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Speech by H.E. Prof. Guido de Marco, President of Malta, during a State Dinner at Schloss Bellevue, Berlin - 8th November, 2001
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08/11/2001
08/11/2001
Your Excellency,
| This is the first State Visit by a President of Malta | to the German Federal Republic. We recall the State Visit by President von Weizsäcker in October 1990, taking place just few weeks after German unification – the first State Visit by the President of a unified Germany. |
| The events leading to German unification on 3rd | October 1990 have closed an important chapter in international relations leading to a Europe divided by no curtains, and where the voices of freedom and democracy sound in unison. |
| To this Europe, based on values and solidarity, we | recognise important architects in Konrad Adenauer and in Willy Brandt. |
| Tomorrow we will be celebrating twelve years since | the break of the Berlin Wall – the break of a wall which heralded not only the unification of Germany, but also a Europe which finds its common heritage in its humanistic tradition. |
Your Excellency,
| Way back in 1588, a German scholar, Hieronymus | Megiser, visited Malta. It was a Malta which had withstood the Great Siege of 1565. In 1606, Hieronymus |
| Megiser published a book describing Malta as | Propugnaculum Europae – a bulwark of Europe. This was the role for many centuries of Malta, situated as it is at the centre of the Mediterranean, forming part of the Latin south of Europe. |
| My Government has applied to join the European Union | and negotiations are far advanced, and indeed subject to the sovereign will of the Maltese people, my Government aims to form part of the European Union in the first enlargement. In this, Malta has received the full support and assistance of your Government. |
| We have witnessed through the centuries the passage | of powers and dominations in this troubled sea. Our awareness of the problems of the region and the interlocking of events in Europe and the Mediterranean led to Malta proposing, in the Helsinki I Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe, what later became known as the Mediterranean basket, whereby it was recognised that there can be no security in Europe unless there be security in the Mediterranean, and that there can be no security in the Mediterranean unless there be security in Europe. |
The logic of this theorem is even more alive today. Because of this logic, Malta, from being a Propugnaculum Europae – a bulwark of Europe – has become a bridge between the two shores of the Mediterranean.
| We are, Excellency, experiencing the aftermath of the | 11th September. We have all recognised that there can be no neutrality between terrorism and its victims. We have all perceived that terrorism carries the same face, whether it be in New York or in Gaza, whether it be in Tel Aviv or in Berlin. |
| We also believe that there must be a collective | effort to seriously address issues of international security, issues that lend themselves to be used as smokescreens by the likes of the September 11th perpetrators. The application of specific United Nations resolutions leading to the recognition of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the safeguard of secure and recognised frontiers for Israel is fundamental for peace in the Middle East. |
But the Mediterranean is not only the Middle East. Sometimes we feel that between the two shores of the Mediterranean Sea, there is a poverty and a prejudice curtain which render a 'people to people' approach difficult indeed.
Malta believes that its membership of the European Union will be a relevant addition to Europe's Mediterranean dimension, validly contributing to a Pax Mediterranea.
Your Excellency,
| The depth of our bilateral relations is underlined by | this my visit to your country. It was preceded by visits of my Prime Minister and my Foreign Minister this year, as well as by leading German personalities to Malta. |
| Germany has become Malta's second largest trading | partner and its second largest tourism market. I am informed that more Germans come to Malta for learning English than Germans go to Great Britain. German investment in Malta has been a success story for both parties. Some sixty German firms operate in and from Malta, employing 11% of the workforce in the manufacturing industry. Our two countries share the same vision for Europe and see in the United Nations the international organisation guaranteeing multilateral security. |
| But I believe, Excellency, that what really makes us | feel we belong to a common heritage is our shared view on the role of the individual in state and society. In a speech which you delivered in Paris at the Institut Français des Relations Internationales, on 4th November 1999, you stated that |
| "The values intrinsic to European culture are | human dignity, the rule of law and the distinction between the Sacred and the Secular. That is the essence of European identity. As a community founded on democracy and respect for human rights, Europe is also a community that lives in peace." |
| It is with these sentiments which proclaim our | European roots and define the challenges of tomorrow that I thank Your Excellency for your invitation to come to your country on a State Visit. May I ask you all to raise your glass to the health of His Excellency Johannes Rau and Mrs Rau, and to the prosperity of the people of the Federal Republic of Germany, and to the continued friendship and cooperation between our two countries. |
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