Toespraak vaste voorzitter Europese Raad Van Rompuy over Spanje en de EU (en)

EUROPEAN COUNCIL THE PRESIDENT

Madrid, 13 December 2013 EUCO

PRESSE 578 PR PCE 243

Speech by President of the European Council

Herman Van Rompuy

at the occasion of the acceptance of a Doctorate Honoris Causa

at the Universidad C.E.U. San Pablo in Madrid

It is a pleasure to be with you today, and a special honour to become with this doctorate an honorary member of this centre of excellence. Thank you for welcoming me to your faculty

After the solemn words and hymns, it would have given me great joy to respond in Latin, the first language that ever united Europe, culturally. Latin was still part of my education in Belgium in the 1950s and 1960s. Sed tempora mutantur ! But times have changed! So I'll address you in the lingua franca of the contemporary age…

Today brings me back to my own university days, in Louvain. In a way my studies took place at a watershed, around the year 1968 (I admit, I was not very revolutionary, not even then!… Although in that year it was rather unconventional, perhaps radical even, to be moderate!). I studied philosophy and economics. In my current job, in those four years that have been very difficult economically for Europe, I have often wondered which of the two has served me better. Perhaps it was philosophy after all!

These have been intense years, and throughout this time, for the presidents and prime ministers in the European Council, it really was – and still is – a collective journey. So I am deeply touched by the kind words of the President of the Government, and I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to you, Mariano, for being here to share this special moment

For Europe as a whole and for all of its countries it has indeed been an eventful period. In the process, we Europeans have come to know each other perhaps better than ever before. We have come to realise how interdependent we really are. Not only the leaders and governments. But the peoples of Europe too

At the worst moments of the crisis for your country, two years ago, all of Europe (yes, at some point even the whole world) was concerned. Citizens across the continent - your partners and currency-companions from France to Finland to Ireland - were worried about the situation right here in Spain: worried for the sake of Spain, but also for themselves. They discovered, like your countrymen-and-women, that events in one country could impact on their own country, on their own lives

Likewise today, better news for Spain is not just better news for Spain, but better news for Europe as a whole. Spain is on the right track. Exports are on the rise, growth is prudently picking up, and recently unemployment finally started to decrease - and all this is the result of dedicated efforts by the government and by the citizens of Spain. And, however many challenges remain, it is a firm step on the road to a wider recovery, in terms of growth, and in terms of employment. We lived through the crisis together and we know we will depend on each other also for the recovery. And it is about this "discovery of interdependence", that I should like to speak with you

The fact that as Europeans, we are all in the same boat. We know our futures are linked: "una unidad de destino comun… " It is the single most important lesson of the crisis. And everything we have done for the euro was aimed at drawing the consequences, at better dealing with this interdependence

The past few years have brought a new intensity in the relations between European states and peoples. It is unprecedented, a novelty. At the same time it is a development in a very, very long history. Nova et vetera…, old and new, change and continuity

After all, we in Europe have known each other for ages! Thinking just about my own country and yours, Belgium and Spain, I could go back to Emperor Charles the Fifth, your King Carlos Primero… He was a Belgian! Or at least born in the Flemish city of Ghent, in the year 1500, and of course he ruled for almost forty years over Spain and the Netherlands, and over a good part of Europe and the world beyond. As legend has it, Carlos would claim to speak: "German to horses, French to women and Spanish to God".

Spain, in these Early Modern days, was the first major country to embody the new European spirit of discovery and (we must say) conquest, of political might and cultural excellence. Spain led on a political path that other European nations were to follow, sometimes even overtake. The "siglo de oro" would give way to the "siècle d'or", the "golden century", and so on…

EUCO

That was then the political life of our nations: on guard and waging war, competing and emulating, change through rivalry – but even throughout the darkest conflicts: the idea of belonging to one civilisation of European nations

This, it seems to me, is also how the notion of "Europe" has entered the Spanish cultural and political imagination, in the centuries between 1600 and 1900. "Europe" stood for a direction, a movement; a compass, sometimes even a solution, to some of the dilemmas your country encountered at transformative moments in its history

This yearning for Europe, it was no doubt José Ortega y Gasset who most forcefully expressed it, closer to our time. One of my favourite authors when I was in my twenties, he spoke in his Meditaciones sobre Europa of this "immense society and union of destiny called Europe". So after the world wars, for the citizens of Spain, it was self-evident to aspire to join the new, political "Europe"; and as soon as it became possible, to join the Community and its by then ten country-members. In Europe, Spain saw an anchor for its democracy, a political project around which all citizens could rally. And a promise, if not a guarantee, for a better life

Spain brought so much to Europe, too. Confirming the union's vocation as a homeland of prosperous democracies. Broadening its perspectives on the world, for instance towards the Americas, or the Mediterranean. And in the wake of joining the club, Spain made the best of the opportunities of membership. Embracing the solidarity offered, the substantial opportunities for modernisation and investment that came at the time

But Spain was also the foremost supporter of ideas to strengthen the bonds between our peoples. I am thinking for instance of the notion of "EU citizenship" (driven by Felipe Gonzalez twenty years ago). Your country is also – and it is a pleasure to say this in a University – the biggest Erasmus success story : Spain is home to no-less than six out of the top-ten destinations for Erasmus students, and sends by far the largest number of students abroad. No doubt some of them are in the room today!

Spain – a united Spain – has to continue to play that role in the future. I am very much aware how different things look today. How now the word "Europe" resonates. But it is only against the background which I just sketched, that we can understand the depth of the current disenchantment. The crisis has shattered expectations. It took jobs away. Leaving those young Spaniards who grew up with Europe as a backdrop to the lives they were promised, feeling betrayed

The financial crisis, by sowing instability, caused great problems of its own, that we have worked hard and are working hard to overcome together. But the truth is, the crisis also revealed underlying structural weaknesses in the economies of our countries

A reliance on excessive debt – both public and private debt – fuelling artificial economic growth. Across Europe, governments were keener to make the most of the boom than to prevent the next bust. In the first decade of the euro, Europe as a whole closed its eyes, collectively unable to create the incentives for individual self-restraint

EUCO

I understand the indignation of many who did not realise they were not well-governed in the past and that unacceptable risks were taken by financial institutions. I understand the exasperation of governments that were saddled with the problems left by their predecessors, and the frustration and anger of people even more. And I know in the end we will only convince people by results, in terms of prosperity and jobs. Yet the waking up to a new reality is inevitable

This new reality is not just the fact of being tied together by a currency, by a common market that makes us all stronger. That is only a small part of the story, and a positive one. In the end, it really is about the pressure from sweeping changes throughout the world: globalisation, new technologies, demographic shifts (including our own ageing population), a race for resources, hundreds of millions on every continent lifted from poverty and entering the global labour market with diplomas and drive

We have known for some time that our European societies would have to adapt to this rapidly changing world, outside but also inside Europe. Of course. But deciding what exactly to change, and when and how, that is never easy. So we often waited too long, and sadly, in too many countries, today's young generation pays a high price for that

This overall analysis is shared by all of Europe's leaders. Even caught up in the whirlwind of the crisis, we did find common ground. Around four essential fronts for action:

• - 

  First: restoring financial stability - the prerequisite for all else. And we succeeded: the euro is no longer under existential threat
• - 

  Second: structural economic reforms, lifting obstacles to growth - to make our economies sound and strong, fit for the global competition
• - 

  Third: immediate action to fight unemployment - because we cannot only wait for growth to bring jobs back
• - 

  Fourth: reinforcing the foundations of our Economic and Monetary Union - because a crisis such as we've gone through should never happen again. You cannot have a common currency without common policies. And we will complete the Banking Union next week

With these four fronts of action, we drew the lessons of the discovery of our interdependence, whereby what happens in each country, matters for all. What happens with banks, with debt. And with jobs

For leaders, it has become very clear: unemployment everywhere in our Union is a common concern, and the ultimate goal of our endeavours. Economically, socially, politically. Fighting it is also a joint responsibility. Of course, national governments are first in line. But in the European Council, together we made sure that EU means are there to back national actions

The €8 billion of the Youth Employment Initiative for the coming years will kick-in from January. And in Brussels during our summits, and in Berlin and Paris during the conferences on Youth Employment, Prime Minister Rajoy has been one of the most forceful advocates for strong decisions and swift delivery. We cannot risk a lost generation. So for all the countries that will benefit from this money, the time to deliver is now

EUCO

We are leaving the most difficult times behind us. And during those years, as we fought the crisis together, for every country, there were moments when they found that they had to take unpopular decisions, for their own good and the good of the whole. It was true for Spain, like it was true for Germany, or for Slovakia… All crossed red lines. In many cases, it required true political courage. It may have taken time, perhaps too much time, but as a result, our Union as a whole is now stronger. More safeguards, more responsibility, more solidarity between us

The hardest thing was that we had to restore trust. For consumers, investors, citizens – in our banks, in our currency zone, and yes, also in our governments and in our collective capacity to change. As a Dutch proverb says: "Trust leaves on horseback, and returns on foot." "La confianza se aleja a caballo, y regresa a pie." Indeed

But even on foot, it is coming back now. Next year growth will be back throughout Europe. And I am pleased that this is true for Spain too. The darkest days are behind now, even if the work is not yet done. It always takes time for growth to translate into jobs. Yet the painful efforts, the sacrifices, have made sense. 2014 will be a better year, I am convinced of that

In Europe's long history, our nations have known many transformative moments. And today we are undergoing and shaping such a moment. The European idea is more than an economic or political project. We all belong to a cultural entity, grown from different roots but which make Europe quite unique and a very special place

Today demonstrators in Ukraine are invoking their belonging to the European civilisation. It exists, even if it is difficult to define it precisely. Of course historically Christianity played an essential role in this; nowadays more in the cultural than in the religious sense. We tend to forget all this when we talk about the banking union or criticise EU red tape… History has its own rights

So today, we are all rethinking what it means to be in Europe, to be: Europe. Engaged as we are in a global competition, living together in a new way, every country, and the Union, is in a process of rediscovering ourselves. And I know this is a difficult moment, certainly for Spain, for all those who lost their jobs, for all those who fear they will not find one…

But yours is a strong, a resilient country, firmly taking up the challenge. On the path ahead, you can draw confidence from past successes in overcoming obstacles, and from the fact that as Spain you are member of this strong and unique group of countries, the European Union, our European Union. Thank you

EUCO