Message from the EU representative in Indonesia
Message from the EU representative in Indonesia
It is my pleasure to present to you on the occasion of "Europe
Day" this special issue, dedicated to the European Union and its
relationship with Indonesia and the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Yesterday, it was exactly 50 years ago that the Second World
War in Europe came to its end, having taken the life of many
millions of innocent victims and left large parts of the
continent devastated.
Today, a European Union, consisting of 15 member states,
celebrates the 45th anniversary of the Declaration of Robert
Schuman, which marked the beginning of the European integration
process.
After the sufferings and the deprivation of the war, six
countries in Europe were determined to lay the basis for lasting
peace and stability. "If you have no longer full control of coal
and steel, you can no longer declare war," was the argument that
persuaded former war enemies to pool their heavy industries in
the European Coal and Steel Community. The road to the European
Union thus commenced as a peace initiative aimed at economic
integration.
From the very outset of the integration process, member states
have relinquished a measure of sovereignty to independent
institutions representing their national and shared interests. In
this spirit a set of common policies has been developed and
implemented, but only for areas where a common approach was
deemed advantageous.
As a result of such policies, 370 million Europeans are now
citizens of the European Union with the right to live and work,
while remaining nationals of their country, anywhere within a
single market in which goods, services and capital can also
freely move.
Looking to the future, there is the commitment to an economic
and monetary union with a single currency at the turn of the
century and the further development of the common foreign and
security policy. Next year the institutional framework of the
union will be reviewed in the light of these and other
objectives.
Though changes may be necessary, the European Union will
certainly not become a unitary state with rigid structures. On
the contrary, the diversity of the individual countries, regions
and cultures, which form an integral part of Europe, must be
maintained.
The European Community has never been inward-looking and, from
early on, special economic and trade relations have been
established with other regions. Cooperation with Indonesia and
other countries in Asia started in the second half of the 1970s.
And in 1980, the European Community and ASEAN embarked on a
formal dialog within the framework of an economic cooperation
agreement.
Trade between both regions has quickly expanded since, to the
extent that the European market became, in 1990, Indonesia's
first export destination worldwide for manufactured products, a
success story for Indonesia's policy of promoting non-oil and gas
exports. Over the past 25 years, European companies have been the
largest foreign investor in Indonesia, and we are of course keen
to keep that position.
When Indonesia celebrates, this year, the 50th anniversary of
the Declaration of Independence, she can look back with great
pride at many very successful achievements, to some of which, I
would like to think, the European Union and its member states
have made a positive contribution, through trade and development
assistance.
A great deal can still be done on both sides to expand our
trade and cooperation. With regard to trade, we should work
together on the political level to give real life to the new
World Trade Organization.
As to cooperation, the European Commission is alive to the
opportunities created by the economic dynamism in Indonesia and
wishes to develop mechanisms that would help economic operators
to even better focus on trade and investment prospects, for
instance, through enhanced information services. There is
definitely scope for more cross-fertilization between the
European Union and Indonesia and its ASEAN partners.
In this regard, we should not only explore an intensification
of the cooperation mechanisms already in place, but also consider
an increase in educational, scientific and cultural exchanges.
The European Commission greatly values the relationship
between the European Union and Indonesia. Both sides have a lot
to offer to each other. It is in these good spirits that we look
forward to the continuing development of a partnership based on
mutual benefit and respect.
Mr. Klauspeter Schmallenbach
Head of Representation
European Commission in Indonesia