EUROPEAN COMMISSION DELEGATION SPEECH

BY GEORGE CUNNINGHAM, CHARGE D'AFFAIRES A.I.

ON THE OCCASION OF EUROPE DAY

AT THE NEW ZEALAND NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

12TH MAY 2009

The Honourable Georgina te HeuHeu MP, representing the Government.

Honourable Ministers.

Charles Chauvel MP, representing the Official Opposition.

Members of Parliament.

Excellencies and Members of the Diplomatic Corps.

Distinguished Guests.

Ladies and Gentlemen.

On behalf of the Head of Delegation, Ambassador David Daly, my family and I, may I welcome you to Europe Day.

This year, Europe Day is held in the magnificent surroundings of the New Zealand National Portrait Gallery. My thanks go to Mrs McKinnon for providing a truly fabulous venue for the event.

Surrounding us is the exhibit called "Legacy", which portrays the Kings and Queens of England . Yet the origins of these royal families are from a far wider Europe – including Denmark , France , Germany and the Netherlands as well as from Scotland and Wales . Indeed by the beginning of the 20 th Century, the monarchs of Europe were so inter-married that George V of England , Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia were cousins. But all those relationships were not enough to stop the outbreak of the Great War with all its terrible loss of life.

That is why the European Union is built on the foundations of peaceful relationship not just between its leaders, but also its citizens. On the fifth anniversary of the day after the end of the Second World War in Europe - 9th May 1950 - Robert Schuman, then the French Foreign Minister, took the first steps in the creation of the European Union by proposing that Europe's coal and steel resources are pooled into a common organisation. From those heady pioneering days, the construction of Europe , as it is commonly referred to, has marched on from its six founding members to 27 Member States today. And – what is more – there is an ever-lengthening queue waiting to join.

2009 is indeed a special year in that respect. It was five years ago this month that we had the "Big Bang" enlargement when the EU went from 15 to 25 Member States. I had the honour to be part of that enlargement process whilst serving in our Delegation in Cyprus. It is also the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. To celebrate these major historical events, we will be having a series of conferences across New Zealand in November with the participation of Lord Patten, our former European Commissioner for External Relations.

Europe Day is also an occasion to celebrate the strong relations with our host country, New Zealand.

The Joint Declaration on Relations and Cooperation that we signed in 2007 has led to an increasing number of benefits from our common commitment to pursue and prosper the EU-NZ relationship. I would like to share a few of them:

- Next week, we will be welcoming Foreign Minister Honourable Murray McCully to Brussels for his first Ministerial Troika meeting with the European Union. We look forward to discussing together foreign policy issues of common concern.

- As the second largest aid donor in the region, the EU coordinates closely its work in the Pacific with both New Zealand and Australia . We have set up annual Trilateral consultations between us concerning the region. The EU is also following the worrying events in Fiji and continues to endorse the Pacific Islands Forum's stance there.

- We hold annual trade and agricultural talks to keep each other informed on our latest policy developments. One example is that we have started negotiations on a comprehensive air services agreement. We also hope to conclude a mutual recognition agreement together in the near future.

- Thanks to the recent signing of the Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement between us, we are broadening our collaboration with New Zealand to build in-depth scientific cooperation to bring out the best from among our research communities. Of particular note is the establishment of FRENZ – Facilitating Cooperation between Europe and New Zealand – by MoRST and the European Commission to connect the two scientific communities.

- Finally let me mention education. We are providing new opportunities with the Erasmus Mundus scholarship programme which funds Kiwis to study in Europe . Thanks to our cooperation, New Zealand's qualifications also now have a wider recognition in Europe.

These are all building blocks towards an increasingly strong relationship.

Solidarity is more important than ever before in times of financial and economic crisis. Reinforced international cooperation is an important part of the solution. The European Union takes its responsibility seriously, not only for the sake of its own citizens, but also for the whole world.

To take the words of our European Commissioner for External Relations Mrs Benita Ferrero-Waldner: “multilateralism is the only effective approach, not only for the financial and economic issues which dominate the agenda today, but for a whole host of issues which affect the future of our planet: from energy security to climate change, from health pandemics to international terrorism”.

We must together continue to respond to these challenges, in particular by working towards concluding the Doha Development Round and aiming for an ambitious agreement at the Climate Conference in Copenhagen this year end.

Putting people first cannot be truer than for our work in New Zealand . With a small delegation here in Wellington , our hard-working staff are reliant on friends to broaden the scope of our outreach and to get our message across.

I therefore take this opportunity to thanks Charles Chauvel MP, Chairman of the EU-NZ Parliamentary Friendship Group; Monique Surges and Peter Kiely, present and past Presidents of the NZ–Europe Business Council in Auckland; and Professor Martin Holland who is in charge of our academic EU Centres Network, based in Christchurch . They are the three pillars on which we rely the most and we thank them for their significant contribution.

And not to be forgotten are our faithful band of Honorary Consuls who hold the fort on behalf of our non-resident Member States in such an admirable way, as well as the spouses of the diplomatic corps whose contribution to our work should receive greater recognition.

All of you present here at our celebration today have in one way or another helped us in our endeavours. Working together, we can continue to make this relationship a great success.

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I ask you to join with me in a toast to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Government and the People of New Zealand.

Her Majesty, the Queen of New Zealand.

ENDS

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