Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegates and thank them for their presentations which are among the most interesting I have heard this year. They were provocative and challenging. I was delighted to hear Mr. Bassuener acknowledge the role of this committee with regard to developments in Serbia. I recall the half dozen meetings of the committee on the topic. We were addressed by people who are now welcome and established members of Irish society. They spoke about why they had fled the region. I recall representatives from Serbia who visited Ireland, including the Deputy Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister. I recall with great pride the principled stance taken by all members of the committee which I am pleased to hear was a contributory factor in what happened. It showed what could be achieved by parliamentary committees when they pursued an interest in a matter.

I did not have an opportunity to visit the region in September because I was returning from another engagement. However, I hope to visit it in the future as I have had a great interest in this topic in my five years as a member of the committee.

I refer to the challenging notion in the presentations that we should deal with the people of the region instead of with the elected representatives. I want to hear how this would work. The engagement of western Europe with eastern and central Europe in the late 1980s and into the 1990s was an attempt to force-fit models of a market economy and democracy into certain countries without considering the value of stability. It could be argued that this was a mistake. Cultural convergence and a commitment to the institutions should have been in place first. The presentations have flipped this critique on its head by arguing that the European Union is placing too much value on stability and not enough on challenging it in order to achieve a result. That result would be a sustainable society in which the rule of law would be respected and everyone would be protected.

What are the specific steps we should take to do that? If any external body appears in a country and says it will deal with the people as opposed to the institutions and political leaders, is there not an inherent risk and is that a risk we are taking? I have listened to what has been said. One speaker said, in its obsession with stability - that is strong language - EU representatives will extend inappropriate political support to politicians. These politicians are elected by people. This bureaucratic autopilot will lead to disaster for Bosnia and the EU; it is only a matter of time. The own-goals of nationalism, collectivism and cronyism, corruption and propaganda fall back and fall back hard. I do not dispute that the representatives are wrong about these claims. When I hear people speak of an obsession with stability, it strikes me as being a very strong statement. I would like to tease out that issue. From an Irish point of view, given our role in the Presidency, what specific things do the delegates think we should say or do that would lead to the peaceful and happy society we all want to create?