Press Release - Reviving the spirit of De Gasperi: working together for an effective and inclusive Union
Speech by Mario Draghi, President of the ECB, at the presentation ceremony of the De Gasperi award, Trento, 13 September 2016
I have many reasons to be grateful and honoured by your decision to award me thePremio De Gasperi today. His character and his experience provide us with an inspiring message, loud and confident: “In Europe we go forward together in freedom”.
This message is rooted in the 20th century history of our continent.
The raison d’être of any government is to provide security for its citizens, both physically and economically. And in democratic societies, that means providing safety and security by preserving individual liberties and individual rights, by promoting social fairness and equal opportunities.
The statesmen who, after World War Two, looked back over the preceding half-century could reach only one conclusion: that the governments which emerged from nationalist and populist movements, and which were carried into power by a mixture of charisma and lies, completely failed to offer their citizens security, fairness and freedom. They had betrayed the very reason for their existence.
In outlining the future shape of international relations, De Gasperi and his contemporaries concluded that only cooperation between European governments within a common organisation could ensure the joint security of their citizens.
They saw that implanting democracy in the nations of Europe would not be enough. Europe also needed democracy among nations. They understood that building barriers between countries would make them more vulnerable and less secure, not least due to their geographical proximity; and that withdrawing behind one’s borders would make governments less effective.
De Gasperi’s vision of how this joint process should be shaped was articulated in various speeches he gave in those years.
Common challenges should be addressed via supranational instead of intergovernmental strategies. Speaking to the assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1954, De Gasperi noted that “…from 1919 to 1939, some seventy international treaties were concluded – and all became mere pieces of paper when it came to their implementation” because of the lack of “joint control of common resources”.[1] And the experience of politicians was validated by distinguished economists, such as Ragnar Nurkse, who showed how those treaties ended up fostering protectionism.[2]
Integration above all had to meet the immediate needs of the people. As De Gasperi observed, “We must begin by pooling only what is strictly essential to the achievement of our immediate aims, and do this by means of flexible formulae which can be gradually and progressively applied”.[3]
And joint action had to be focused on areas where, evidently, individual action by governments was not sufficient: joint control over the raw materials of war, in particular coal and steel, was one of the first examples.
In this way, the founders of the European project were able to pair effectiveness with legitimacy, since the process was legitimised by both popular consensus and the support of governments. It was focused on areas where the action of European institutions and the benefits for the people were directly and visibly related. And joint action did not limit the authority of governments, but rather buttressed it, and thus found their backing.
But it was not only the disastrous experience of the past that motivated De Gasperi and his contemporaries. It was also the immediate successes which were made possible by the initial decisions of the post-war period.
The achievements of working together
The establishment of peace – the crowning achievement of the European project – immediately produced growth and laid the foundation for prosperity. Set against this was the devastation wrought by the two world wars. Real GDP per capita fell by 14% during World War One and by 22% during World War Two, wiping out many of the gains that had been made during the preceding years.
Economic integration built on peace in turn produced significant improvements in living standards. Since 1960 cumulative growth in real GDP per capita has been 33% higher in the EU15 than in the US. Incomes in poorer European countries have also converged towards those enjoyed by richer ones.
And EU citizens have gained the right to live, work and trade throughout the Union – and to benefit from equal protection, wherever they are, provided by European courts of law. Indeed, the process of coming together in a single market, one of the greatest achievements of the European project, was never solely about increasing market integration and efficiency. It was above all a choice of values of a free, open society – a choice made by the people of the European Union.
The European project has firmly established political freedoms, too. From the outset the promotion of free democracy has been at its heart. As a guarantor of democratic principles, the EU has acted as a point of reference for countries eager to escape dictatorships or totalitarianism, such as Greece, Portugal and Spain or those of central and eastern Europe. The Copenhagen criteria and the Charter of Fundamental Rights ensure that all EU countries respect a set of well-defined political principles enshrined in national and European law.
There is no doubt that these freedoms have contributed immensely to the well-being of Europe. And it is because of these freedoms that many migrants and refugees are looking for a better future in the European Union today.
In short, European integration has provided its citizens with physical and economic security – perhaps for longer than ever in the history of Europe – while also spreading and instilling the values of an open society. The founders who began this process, and we who have carried it on, have demonstrated to the world that freedom and security are not mutually exclusive. By consolidating democracy we have secured peace.
Copyright: European Central Bank
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