Balkan Leaders Summit - 65. zasjedanje Opće skupštine Ujedinjenih naroda

Address of H. E. Gordan Jandroković, Minister of Foreign Affairs
and European Integration of the Republic of Croatia at the 
65th Session of the UN General Assembly - Balkan Leaders Summit

Making Europe Whole: Completing the Balkan's Euro-Atlantic Integration

New York, 22nd September 2010

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour for me to address this distinguished gathering and to share with you Croatia’s view on the Euro-Atlantic integration of the countries in South-East Europe.
Let me note that Croatia’s future in the EU has already assumed concrete contours.
We have entered the final stage of our accession negotiations with the EU, and we are determined to finish the technical part of this process by the end of this year or – at the latest – during the first trimester of 2011.
Rest assured that we will spare no effort to finish the job we have started, so as to sign the Accession Treaty during the incoming Hungarian Presidency.
To us it would be extremely valuable to have the support of our partners in the EU and NATO in securing a smooth and unhindered course of the ratification of our Accession Treaty so as to join the EU as soon as possible.
Croatia’s success in achieving the goal of membership in both – the EU and NATO – has been and continues to be a strong incentive for all the countries of South East Europe.
With that in mind, we will continue to share our knowledge and experience with all the countries in our neighbourhood, and support their European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations – in every possible way.
The responsibility we feel towards the region derives from our understanding how demanding it is to reach the point where Croatia stands today.
Certainly, the forces that are to move Euro-Atlantic integration forward are first and foremost the countries themselves.
Recent developments in the region are a clear proof that the countries are increasingly assuming their part of the responsibility to turn into reality the scenario of a more dynamic integration process.
However, in order to give this process a decisive push, the valuable support of our European and Euro-Atlantic partners remains to be indispensable.
And this support certainly entails keeping the membership perspective not only open but also achievable.
Membership in the EU and NATO can do for South-East Europe what it did for Western and Central Europe some time ago.
We all share the vision of a Europe whole, free and at peace.
And this is something we have to strive at every step of the way.
Since yesterday we marked the International Day of Peace, allow me to use this opportunity to quote the words of John F. Kennedy:
“Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.”
We do have the structures on which to continue building prosperity and stability across the European continent, and now it is our common responsibility to make the most of them and finish the process we have started.
Thank you for your attention!