Liberation , February 28, 2003. By Milan Kucan

“Europe remains divided, perhaps more than before the fall of the Wall, and the biggest victims are precisely the countries which already suffered from the Cold War.”

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Published in the daily Liberation By Milan KUCAN, edition of Friday February 28, 2003.

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The grayness of the years, in our memory, has not yet veiled the animated images of the crowds on the Berlin Wall who, with their bare hands, tore off the bricks. The enthusiasm of the Europeans was immense at the time. It was particularly pronounced among the peoples who, after World War II, found themselves east of the Iron Curtain, in the ideological and political bloc of Soviet communism and under the political hegemony of a great state. Many of them had been violently torn from their traditional space of Western Central European civilization, within which, through history, they have forged themselves culturally and politically, into modern peoples and nations. Europe, divided into two blocks, has interrupted their history. The end of the bipolar division of the world which had caused man so much harm was, for these countries, the promise of a return to their traditional, spiritual and cultural milieu of civilization.

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Immense was the enthusiasm of the peoples of the East to face every effort necessary to compensate for historical deprivation, to overcome, as soon as possible, historical distance and to open the door of institutions and integration. European. Hence the great desire of these countries to join the Council of Europe, the European Union and NATO. Perhaps they did not understand that the European institutions were already somewhat tired. That inside there was a certain routine and inertia, that relations between countries were becoming pragmatic and that they clung less and less to the idea and values ​​of European integration. And that there was still a long way to go to create the European soul. Perhaps they have, in their expectations and their great desire, nourished illusions, in any case also a lot of idealism.

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As a European and Slovenian, the citizen of one of the smallest European countries, which was once part of the former Yugoslavia and who has experienced all these changes, including the violent dissolution of a former common state Faced with which Europe was helplessly assisting, and having actively participated in it, I carried this experience, this idealism and probably also some illusions about the future to the depths of my conviction. In recent weeks, it seems that all these reflections on the unification of Europe and on its historical necessity, its ethical issues and values, on its assembly in the reality of the globalized world, are easily pushed into the background.

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The Iraqi crisis, as a key global political problem, has shown how fragile the idea of ​​European unification is and how vulnerable and difficult its implementation is. The days of Eurocentrism, when Europe, with its civilization, marked the world for good and bad, is definitely behind us. Other centers of power have asserted themselves, above all the United States, but increasingly also China, India, the Muslim world and, sooner or later also Africa and Latin America. The historic moment demands that all civilizations find a way to coexist. A dialogue, in which, notwithstanding the difficulty of the task, we will have to seek the smallest denominators of shared interest, in particular the values ​​and ethical bases, on which it is possible to establish a responsibility for the future of humanity. and the planet in general. No one can accept the values ​​of others as role models. Otherwise it would be the ethical and spiritual hegemonism to which our Euro-American civilization has not yet succeeded in completely getting rid of and which other civilizations, to a great extent, live as such and, therefore, refuse. This is particularly evident in our relationship with Islam and, increasingly, also with China.

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Are Europe and the United States ready to start such a dialogue? Is Europe capable of speaking with one voice, strong and responsible, on fundamental questions of humanity, concerning development, war and peace, social divisions and those relating to development, security, ecology? Is it capable of finding, when it is essential, an understanding with the America which it considers to be the closest? Is she sufficiently aware of the responsibility that falls to her? Are we finally realizing this responsibility on the other side of the Atlantic? The Iraqi crisis and its aftermath provide a negative rather than a positive response.

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No one wants war, that's for sure. Such is, at least, the message of sober and responsible reason. How to ensure that Iraq disarms? It is on this issue that the world has divided, that Europe and the United States have divided and, what is particularly worrying, Europe itself has been divided. The United States has its own position, Europe does not. Part of Europe follows the reasoning of the United States, without even having tried to verify the possibility of formulating a common position. Joining forces in order to obtain a common, united voice has obviously not yet become, anywhere in Europe, a conditioned reflex. The declaration of the Eight bypassed Germany and France who do not agree with the United States. This declaration was followed by that of the ten countries, known as the Vilnius group. It was only then that the European Union tried to formulate its common position, but without the candidate countries. They have just been informed of the common positions.

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Europe remains divided, perhaps more than before the fall of the Berlin Wall. And with long-term consequences. This cleavage manifested itself on an imposed dilemma, so true it is true that it should not be so difficult to formulate a common position on the question of the disarmament of Iraq, given that the problem was known for a long time. The division that has arisen is quite artificial between “new” and “old” Europe. The new Europe can only be all European countries, linked together in a democratic community with the same ethical values ​​and the same responsibility, and not a Europe in which a group of countries, formed sometimes in a way, sometimes of another, will always be opposed to the other group.

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The biggest victims of this European separation are precisely the countries which have already suffered from the division into areas of interest and the Cold War. They have not yet completed the path leading to European integration. Their hopes and expectations are not yet fulfilled. They continue to want to join the EU and NATO. For them and for Europe, this is the assurance that their past has definitely become the past.

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But Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, even candidate countries for membership, are torn between the demands and expectations of the United States and, on the other hand, the major European countries wanting them to support their positions. . This is what is most questionable, politically myopic, the least ethical and, in the long run, the most harmful. As if the child were required to renounce one of his parents. In fact, these countries are not asked to comment on the abuse of weapons of mass destruction, but we are asking them to decide between the positions of the United States and those of the most influential European countries. The price of inability to engage in dialogue will be paid by those who have neither the power nor the means to revolt against this blackmail.

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It is well known that these countries continue to seek a solid guarantee of their security and, for this reason, feel the need to seek shelter under the strongest security and defense organization. The vocabulary adopted on both sides - I am counting the warning from Paris not sufficiently balanced - has unfortunately shown the reality which is very far from that desired. Is it true that some have more rights than others, some more responsibilities than others? Are only some who can think and decide and others who can only agree? Can some speak and others only listen and be silent? This is the logic that was believed to have been left forever on the rubble of the Berlin Wall. If the reality is that the country which decides before the adoption of the common position is not welcome within NATO, then it is better that it does not adhere to such a NATO. And the same goes for the European Union as well.

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I do not think that because of what is happening, the idea of ​​unification and European unity is buried. She is alive as she was a good ten years ago, because she is an imperative of history. Only time and circumstances are now different. For the young European democracies, including for Slovenia, it is the time to sober up. They will continue to commit to joining European and Euro-Atlantic integration, this being a historic necessity.

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But what is a shame is that there will no longer be the enthusiasm, the illusions and the idealism of before. We are not confronted with the real danger that the Iraqi regime represents for humanity, but with the sheer size of powers between the United States and Europe and above all within Europe itself.

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Who could see the point? European unity can still break down, but it would be difficult to build it again. We also need the Euro-Atlantic alliance. But there can be no alliance if one of its parts is not able to formulate its position on the key problems of humanity, its interest and its responsibility towards them. It is a narrow view that one which forgets that any alliance is strong only as much as its weaker member is strong. Right now it seems, it is not possible to love both peace and the United States, and peace and Europe at the same time. The war which is on the horizon and which has divided the world and Europe is a mistaken war.