For small states, there is no alternative to a rules-based international order, is the conclusion of a panel of presidents of four such European countries that took place at the Bled Strategic Forum on Tuesday.
Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar, Czech President Petr Pavel, Estonian President Alar Karis and Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović discussed the position of the European Union in an increasingly turbulent world in Bled.
The day before, at the opening of the international conference, Pirc Musar said that Europe's glory days were behind it because the continent was no longer a global political and economic power. However, the Slovenian president believes that countries around the world want Europe as a reliable partner, especially those that do not want to depend on third parties.
To return to the world stage, EU countries must act unitedly, said Pirc Musar.
"I don't see another continent that will do what this world needs," she said on Tuesday, stating that Europe must be vocal about fundamental values, human rights and democracy.
"If we're not vocal about these three things, who else will?"
Pirc Musar expressed "sadness and frustration" over the inability of smaller states to influence world events.
“I would love to be president of the United States, of course. But small countries still have a voice” within the United Nations and the EU, which is why “multilateralism is important” and we must not “give up on the rules-based order.
The Estonian president agreed that "for small states there is no alternative" to trying to maintain the multilateral order.
"Most of the world's countries are small, so we need to unite," Karis said.
The old always dies, and the new is not born.
The Czech president spoke of a "new bipolar world", divided into democracies on one side and autocracies on the other.
Pavel believes that "autocracies are currently winning the mental war for a while" because they are "more attractive than democracies" to those countries between the two poles that have failed to convince the rest of the world of the importance of freedom and the rule of law.
"If we continue to believe that democracies in their liberal form are the best system that humanity has invented so far, then we have no choice but to fight for it by all means. That means with the military element. The EU can be strong economically and politically, but without a strong army we will not be seen as a relevant actor," said the Czech president, a general who came to that position as the former chairman of NATO's military committee.
The Montenegrin president, describing the current geopolitical situation, quoted the Italian socialist philosopher Antonio Gramsci.
"The old world is dying, and the new one is not yet born. We are entering the age of monsters."
But Milatović, as the only president on the panel who did not represent an EU member, believes that the politicians of that alliance are too pessimistic because Europe is still the "best place" in the world.
"I think the EU is more united than ever," said the 38-year-old president, recalling that just 80 years ago the continent was completely divided and powerless, squeezed between the US and the Soviet Union.
"When you analyze the EU's response to an increasingly challenging environment, it has always been greater unity," he emphasized, adding that the answer must always be "more Europe," which also includes enlargement to new members.
His country can be a "much bigger story" here because by joining the EU it can serve as a signal to other member states that enlargement is possible and that the EU is capable of "solving its own problems."
Pirc Musar called on the panel for a "United States of Europe" that would regain its voice on the international stage through greater unity. The problem with Europe, the Slovenian president continued, is that it does not provide other world leaders with a single interlocutor.
Karis emphasized that he understands the need for a stronger common voice of European countries, but that as an Estonian he cannot demand stronger integration from his fellow citizens less than 35 years after gaining freedom.
Milatović believes that the process of stronger integration "must go gradually, which is already happening", and Pavel emphasized that the continent has "greater potential than the USA" and can be a rival to China economically, but only if it does so uniquely.
Photo: EPA/ANTONIO BAT
