“The European Union is ready to increase its work, in full coordination with the Republic of Korea
In consideration of the importance of Europe for Korea strategically, President Moon
Jae-in, Republic of Korea dispatched its Europe envoy Cho Yoonje to Europe along with
envoys to the United States, Russia, Japan and ASEAN to cement ties with them, respectively.
This means that President Moon Jaein administration attaches great importance to ties
with European countries in parallel with other countries to solve nuke problems etc. from
North Korea, among others.
EU Day reception (from right, EU Amb. Michael Reiterer, National Assembly Speaker Chung Se-kyun, & Mr Ahn Chongkee, Second Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs). (Courtesy: EU Delegation) |
Newaccredited EU Amb. Michael Reiterer agreed such fact by saying in a reception to
commemorate Europe Day 2017 that only a few days ago, there was another first: Prof
Cho Yoonje was the first presidential envoy to travel to Brussels and Berlin and he met
with President Tusk, the EU foreign policy chief Mogherini and the secretary general of
the European diplomatic service, Ms Schmid.
The EU Delegation to the Republic of Korea celebrated the Europe Day 2017 on 22 May
with the presence of H.E. Mr Michael REITERER, the EU Ambassador to the ROK, H.E. Mr
Chung Syekyun, Speaker of the National Assembly, H.E. Mr Ahn Chongkee, Second Vice
Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Park Inkook, President of the Korea Foundation for
Advanced Studies and the Ambassadors of the EU Member States. From EU member
countries, British Amb. Charles Hay, Sweden Amb. Anne Hglund, Denmark Amb. Thomas
Lehmann, Czech Republic Amb. Tomas Husak, Greece Amb. Dionisios Sourvanos, Latvia
Amb. Peteris Vaivars, Italy Amb. Marco Dellaseta, Poutugal Amb. Antonio Quinteiro
Nobre, Spain Amb. Gonzalo Ortiz DiezTortosa, Turkey Amb. Hakan Okcal, Germany Amb.
Stephan Auer, Hungary Amb. Csaba Gabor, Netherlands Amb. Lody Embrechts, Bulgaria
Amb. Petar Andonov, Romania Amb. Mihai Ciompec, Georgia Amb. Otar Berdzenishi,
Belgium Amb. Adrien Theatre etc. joined the
celebration to show their solidarity. Also from the Seoul Diplomatic Corps., Myanmar
Amb. Thura H Thet Oo Maung, Dominican Amb. Grecia Fiordalicia Pichardo Polanco,
Mexico Amb. Bruno Figueroa, & Argentina Amb. Jorge Roballo etc. showed up.
EU Day reception which was held at the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies on May 22nd evening. (Courtesy: EU Delegation) |
The Europe Day 2017 reception was held on 22 May, as it coincided with the Presidential
Election in the ROK on 9 May. It is the first time that the National Assembly Speaker has
accepted to attend a national day and to address. The Speaker and the Vice Minister of
Foreign Affairs both appreciated the 60 years of harmony and solidarity seen in the EU
and hoped to bring the peace also to the East Asia region.
The decision of President Moon to send a special envoy to the EU is an indication of
the strength of the Strategic Partnership between the EU and Korea, Brussel European Union stated.
According to EU Delegation Seoul, President Tusk and High Representative/
Vice-President Mogherini stressed in their separate meetings with special envoy Cho from
President Moon Jaein, Republic of Korea who inaugurated as of May 10th two weeks
ago that the European Union is ready to increase its work, in full coordination with the
Republic of Korea and the international community, to deescalate tensions and
peacefully denuclearise the Korean Peninsula.
In particular Mogherini said they had discussed perspectives on the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea and denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. “We have had excellent
exchanges with the Ambassador, agreeing to continue to work together and even
intensify the work that the European Union and Korea can do to solve the problem,
trying to de-escalate the tensions, obviously continuing to implement the sanctions that the European
Union has in place together with the rest of the international community, but also and
mainly trying to open a political channel for negotiations,” she told the media.
EU Amb. Michael Reiterer stressing Strategic Partnership between Korea & EU on the occasion of the the inauguration of President Moon, Republic of Korea. (Courtesy: EU Delegation). |
The following is a contribution article by H.E Michael Reiterer, EU Amb. to Korea whch
was inserted into its May issue of The Seoul City magazine. –Ed.
Europe Day, held on 9 May every year, celebrates peace and unity in Europe. It was on
9 May 1950 that the then French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman set out his idea for
a new form of political cooperation in Europe. This year marks the 60th anniversary of
the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957. The handful of representatives of the six founding members(France, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, then West Germany) that signed
the treaty could probably have only dreamed that 60 years later their community of
six would have developed into a European Union of 28, the worlds largest trader and
investor, the biggest donor of development aid, using the second most important world
currency, the Euro. The EU of today is a major economic power that has a worldwide
reach and which wields considerable influence in international politics. In setting up
the Single Market the EU proved that it was not only talking about free trade but
actually implementing it.
Today 500 million people enjoy not only the highest standards of living in the world;
they benefit from the best social and healthcare systems and, most importantly, live in
a stable area of freedom, rule of law and security. They are free to live, study or work
anywhere - about 14 million EU citizens live in a different European country.
Tourists are attracted by the diverse and rich European culture and its environment:
The EU has the most comprehensive programme of environmental legislation in the
world, which helps maintain air quality and means that most lakes have the quality of
drinking water. Migrants and refugees risk their lives to get to Europe, even from far
away countries like Afghanistan or Pakistan, because of the quality of life most
Europeans enjoy.
Today the EU remains a champion of an open trading system, works closely with the
United Nations to assure global governance, pushes for rule of law and leads the fight
against climate change. The EU has established the first major carbon market and
agreed ambitious emission reduction, energy efficiency, and renewable energy targets
through its climate-energy packages, first for 2020 and now for 2030.
Group photo session with EU Delegation diplomats & staffs, wrapping up its function. (Courtesy: EU Delegation) |
The Six turned into 28 and the EU remains attractive: candidate countries are waiting
to join and most of the countries of the world want to have a close relationship with
the Union. Although the UK has decided to leave, it should be noted that this is being
done simply by invoking an article in the Treaty.
The EU's relationship with the Republic of Korea is an outstanding example and sets a
model for what it wants to do with many other partners in the world: a modern Free
Trade Agreement has been in force for six years and has massively increased trade; a
political Framework Agreement is the basis for a dense infrastructure of dialogue and
cooperation instruments ranging from cultural cooperation, research, greening the
economy to political and security cooperation. A outstanding example of the latter is
the joint work by EU and Korean naval vessels to ensure that pirates do not threaten
the sea lanes in the Gulf of Aden through which are vital to the container ships
carrying the trade in goods between Europe and Asia.
This cooperation is guided by annual meetings between the Korean President and EU
leaders and frequent and close interaction between Foreign Minister Yun and EU
foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. The EU stands by Korea and supports the
international community's efforts to achieve denuclearisation of the Peninsula. The
leading policy paper of the EU, last years Global Strategy spells out clearly that security
and prosperity of Asia and Europe are intertwined. The EU cannot but remain fully
engaged in Asia even as it manages challenges in Europe and its neighbourhood.
The urge to set up the European Union was based on the experience that Europe in
the 19th and first half of the 20th century was part of the problem and not the solution.
It is nowuniversally recognised that the model of peaceful international relations that
has brought about European Union is the solution: In 2012 the European Union was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition for its contribution to “the advancement
of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe".
EU unity has stopped war on the European continent, once we fought; now we talk –
although I am reluctant to praise the EU as a model, in this case I make an exception
and even venture to add – this is of particular importance here in today’s North East Asia.