During a Keynote Speech at the event ‘New Beginning for Multilateralism: the Role of Parliaments’, in New York, the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola spoke on the importance to reinvigorate multilateralism and to make it fit for purpose to address current challenges.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is an honour for me and for the European Parliament to open this exchange of views today.
Multilateralism is modern diplomacy’s greatest success story.
For decades, it has been a cornerstone of peace and prosperity across the globe. It is a bulwark against conflict and the bedrock of the rules-based international order. This is the essence of what the European Union stands for: states coming together to peacefully
resolve their differences and pursue common goals. And we can all of this while preserving cultures, identities of countries, without making everybody the same.
I consider the European Parliament as an extension of that principle. It is the only directly elected, multilingual, multi-party, transnational Parliament in the world. A place where myself my colleagues come together to deliver solutions on behalf of the people that we were elected to represent just a few months ago, across twenty-seven very distinct countries.
This great exercise in democracy is the product of multilateralism and it is really a living example to the world.
When it comes to global issues, multilateralism is crucial in fostering the cooperation and solidarity that we need to face down challenges that transcend political or geographical borders.
Challenges like fighting the effects of climate change, ensuring equal access to education for all, and strengthening equality.
On this last point: As President of the European Parliament, I also wanted to mention our institutional commitment to the goals behind the He for She project. It is a campaign that the EP can continue to push for and is one the tangible benefits of multilateralism that moves
beyond traditional diplomacy but that can have a profound impact on the European Parliament and the UN working together. We can do more on this and I know the MEPs here are as committed as me to making this a reality.
Multilateralism and the international institutions that support it, face threats, but they will always be as healthy and firm as we choose to make them.
It is not utopia, we must also commit ourselves to reflection and introspection, knowing that recognising what we can do better, will make us stronger. If we don’t recognise that, we will find ourselves regressing rather than going forward.
Ladies and gentlemen, the result of multilateralism must never be the lowest common denominator. On the contrary, it must be the re-affirmation of our way. The understanding that I can be Maltese, European equally, and our policies do but should continue to reflect that.
We should strive for more. We should be more ambitious. But equally, we must not be afraid of reform or to embrace constructive new ideas.
The United Nations, for instance, has been an important voice for decades, but it must also evolve. The issues we face today differ massively from those faced by those before us of the past, and the new global governance system must be fit for purpose to tackle the tests we will face tomorrow.
In the Pact for the Future, adopted this morning after some failed to derail it, UN Members States rightly recognise that preventive diplomacy is vital towards resolving multilateral challenges.
Parliaments come in for that. We should contribute to this effort by leveraging their expertise in consensus-building and compromise, in finding agreements, in pushing forward texts that are ambitious.
One excellent example is the long-lasting friendship and mutual respect underpinning the ACPEU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.
This brings together parliamentarians, from around the world, and is based on shared values.
The new Samoa Agreement between the EU and ACP turns words into action for our countries and people. This will advance the 2030 Agenda promoting peace, security and prosperity, while fighting poverty and disillusionment.
The active participation of parliaments in these processes will be essential to reinforcing rules-based, inclusive, and effective multilateralism.
The European Parliament has established networks with many legislative bodies, including many of yours here, creating very solid relationships spanning back years and nurturing strong networks globally.
Parliamentary multilateralism works and a UN Parliamentary Assembly would be a step in the right direction. It would facilitate a structured exchange of ideas among directly-elected representatives from around the world. It would make decision-making more transparent, by placing the responsibility on us, as democratically-elected, to explain what we do and, vote on and decide on these fora.
Multilateralism gave the world so much in the 20th century and it holds so much promise for the future. Now is the time to reinvigorate it. To make it fit for purpose in the current challenges that we face.
And I know that together we can get there.
Thank you.