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