STATEMENT BY HANS VAN DEN BROEK WHEN BESTOWED THE HONORARY EMBLEM OF FREEDEM OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA

Ljubljana, 3 October 1996


I feel proud and I feel moved because of this very high decoration that you have bestowed upon me, the Honorary Emblem of Freedom. And it is notably the freedom which is expressed in this decoration which appeals so much to you, but also to us. It indeed, Mr. President, brings back memories of those tragic days in the beginning of the 90s where EU, then still the European Community, was somewhat at loss with itself about what to do with an evolving tragedy of which the first signs became visible then. I am so much impressed and moved by your words because I also know that in those days it was the EU that maybe has confused you and your people to some extent because of their somewhat wavering attitude towards something that was happening and developing and which eventually became inevitable, the dismemberment, the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia. And I remember these discussions so full well. And maybe after time has passed and after hearing and listening to your words today, it makes me even understand better your confusion at that time but it makes the appreciation even much greater for your understanding why we acted at that time as we did and I could not give a better expression of our feelings and motivations in those days than the one that you have explained today. Freedom, aspirations for freedom were firmly embedded in your people and notably in yourself. You were known, Mr. President, already in those days, as somebody who had a clear conviction that reform was the only future for Slovenia. Your people as the matter of fact, already in the early 80s, showed, I would say, a significant expression of a drive towards political and cultural liberalism. All of this in those early days of the 90s had not yet really penetrated our minds.

I pledge, but I do that not on my personal behalf, but on behalf of the EC, its President and the EU, our firm commitment to the integration process, our firm friendship Sloveniathis country and its people, and our firm pledge towards its President that we will work together with him and his government to the full partnership which we call membership of the EU.