CLOSING ADDRESS BY THE HON. LOUIS GALEA, MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE, AT THE MEETING ORGANISED BY THE UNIVERSITY JUNIOR COLLEGE MALTA, CENTRO DI COORDINAMENTO INFO EUROGENTE, THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, MAL

Insellmilkom! Welcome to you all!

When we declare our firm belief in a unified continent, which we comfortably consider our own, we are putting into practice the principles which so many thinkers throughout the centuries have been conceiving and formulating for us. Our own Europe is the end product of so many thoughts and hopes, so many successful and unsuccessful efforts characterizing history. If we stand here and now, proud of our past and confident in our future, it is due to the achievements of so many people who all craved for a common house, a feeling of being at home wherever one is.

That is the major conquest of our European culture, the conviction that we all have somewhere larger than our own home to belong to. Feeling at home elsewhere, and enabling somebody to feel at home here, whoever he or she is: that is a way of looking at our history as a process leading towards what we are all doing now. We do belong to our past, and that is where we have to look if we want to discover the meaning of this historical moment.

Like other Mediterranean countries, Malta takes pride in its distinctive culture, epitomising the whole of history of our region. Faith and tradition, language and architecture, customs and modes of thinking, legislation and social structures: these and other components of our cultural identity make us part and parcel of Europe, and still prove that our identity is even larger than that. It reaches out for even wider dimensions, Our Mediterraneity, our belonging to the South is indeed unique, a spiritual wealth which justifies our claim to be members of a group and at the same time pride ourselves in much more.

Unification can be consolidated through political means. It all depends on constitutions, laws, rules and regulations, since we cannot imagine a civilised society lacking a set of definite points of reference. But our spiritual journey followed a different line of direction. Politics codifies what the human spirit will have been exploring and experiencing before. Prior to our political achievements, there were our cultural exploits. It is through our science and art, here understood in their widest possible meaning, that we can now boast of being the constructors of a common house, a Europe open to all of us. Our modern political performance is rooted in our remote past, in what our forefathers have thought and felt on our behalf so long ago.

That is why we can enjoy better ways of living, employ a fairer legal system, and go on hoping to reach ever higher levels of development. For whole centuries Europe has been unified through philosophical and artistic movements. The central point from which such currents emanated have varied from time to time, but the essential content has reached the whole continent. It is possible, indeed dutiful, to think of a culturally unified Europe, even though we boast of so many diverse cultural entities. Underlying diversity there is indeed a common line of development, a central point of inspiration. Art and science make us think that.

Our countries differ in size, climate, population and so many other fundamental factors. We take pride in our respective identity, and at the same time seek a common core. That is not very difficult to find, as we now know from our comparative studies in so many fields of competence. As we compare and contrast our identity, we realise that we have frequently aimed at a single goal, and shared a common destiny. Much still has to be done in the field of mutual understanding and appreciation. That can be partly acquired through political measures₁ but to a much greater extend it is a purely cultural challenge. The introduction of relatively new fields of studies of a comparative nature is a significant sign of our times.

This is where culture and education assume their most determinative role. More than ever before we take stock of the situation as we become more aware of the relationship between education and peaceful conviviality at all levels. Our schools and universities are the focal points of our society, and. we cannot expect to attain a higher degree of social harmony if not through greater success in our cultural and educational projects.

From those secure points of reference we hope to build a sounder image of ourselves and our brethren abroad. Higher standards in education can secure for us a better world to live in. We are normally sure of all this, but we tend to take it for granted, and consequently to underestimate its direct consequences on what is simplistically the political character of life. Our political project itself is the result of our educational and cultural experiences, and that is why we have to go on stressing the paramount importance of what is spiritual, poetic and profound in humankind. The enrichment of the spirit is indeed the most practical policy.

We pledge to give more prominence to our own culture and to the cultures of all other countries. That is the way to develop our self-respect and consequently the respect we owe to all the rest. Refining our modes of thinking and feeling, deepening our knowledge of the past, acquiring a greater understanding of our own cultural identity as well as that of others: that is how we believe we can better discover our roots, from which our strength derives, and on which the future, an offshoot of the past, depends. Our political challenge, to construct a unified Europe in the name of diversity, is indeed cultural. Culture, that is where our project may fail or indeed succeed.

Is-sahha u s-sliem lilkom ilkoll!