Celebrating 74 years of unity, peace, prosperity

MAY 9, is Europe Day. On Europe Day we celebrate the European Union’s (EU) many achievements and take the opportunity to reflect on our challenges.

On May 9, 1950, six European States signed the Schuman Declaration, a bold plan calling for the unification of Europe in order to make war impossible on the continent devastated after two global wars, which both had started in Europe. The EU was born in the ashes of war as a peace project. We have gone a long way towards unity, peace and prosperity ever since, with the EU today a major global actor greatly contributing to peace, stability and sustainable growth around the world over the last 74 years. We have built a model – the EU model – based on cooperation and economic interdependence among our 27 member States, which has brought us remarkable peace and prosperity for more than 70 years. This model resulted from a long process of gradual integration: Economic, political, and most recently – security and defence. From the six founding members (Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and The Netherlands), the EU has grown to its current 27 member States, with a population of close to 450 million. Joining the Union is not a straight-forward journey. It requires full compliance with economic and political criteria, including commitment to our values: Freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law, promoting peace and stability.

Unprovoked

This is why we stand firmly with Ukraine – a candidate member of the EU - in a resolve to restore peace on our continent. Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression on Ukraine poses an unprecedented global threat to multilateralism as a way to peaceful co-existence. The EU is working with its partners worldwide to mitigate this threat, but also to counter a global backsliding on human rights and democracy. We will work to amplify the support base for the universality and indivisibility of human rights and rebut false perceptions that human rights are a Western value. All countries should respect the United Nations (UN) Charter.

At home, this year we hold the European Parliament elections, taking place in June. The European Parliament is the voice of the EU citizens, who elect their representatives from party lists. The members of European Parliament form political groups according to their political families, not to nationality. In our 27 EU member States, from my native Bulgaria to Sweden, and from Malta to Ireland, to name just a few, we work together towards prosperity and progress, to improve the lives of the European citizens and of people around the world. The European Union dedicates around 10 per cent of its budget to external action. We provide funding to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. We also work hand-in-hand with international organisations, private bodies and EU member States to increase the impact of our support.

The EU cooperates on many levels with the UN. Our member States contribute around 30 per cent of the budget of the UN and 33 per cent of the UN Peacekeeping budget. Taken as a whole, the EU is the largest contributor to the UN. Today’s numerous global crises call for an urgent reform of the multilateral system to make it fit for purpose. To keep delivering on the fundamental principles of the UN Charter: Solidarity, equality and universality, UN institutions must be reformed to be representative and effective. We need to strengthen the UN’s strategic capabilities to be able to anticipate and respond to risks and global shocks. The EU supports a comprehensive reform of the UN Security Council towards making it more effective, inclusive, transparent, democratic, accountable and better reflecting today’s realities by strengthening the voice of underrepresented regions, especially but not limited to Africa. The EU will likewise support the ongoing processes in the International Financial Institutions to create a more inclusive global financial architecture, strengthening a rulesbased and equitable financial system that ensures a more effective global economic governance.

Secure

Globally, we are now focusing on our Global Gateway, a new European Strategy to boost smart, clean and secure links in digital, energy and transport and strengthen health, education and research systems across the world. The Global Gateway stands for sustainable and trusted connections that work for people and the planet, to tackle the most pressing global challenges, from climate change and protecting the environment, to improving health security and boosting competitiveness and global supply chains.

In Eswatini, for over 50 years, we have been a major and reliable partner of the country’s development initiatives. During this period, the EU has contributed billions of Emalangeni to help the country improve access to clean and potable water, electricity, free primary education, health (including access to vaccines), sustainable and climate-smart agriculture, infrastructure development, strengthening of governance, democracy and human rights, social protection, institutional capacity building and trade facilitation. We are proud to be among the biggest supporters of the local civil society, we have relentlessly promoted democracy, the rule of law, fundamental rights and equality, with a special focus to gender equality, female empowerment, children and youth.

Just a few concrete examples: From 2006 to date, the EU contributed extensively to help Eswatini achieve universal access to education by paying for free primary education. We have helped build modern roads and bridges to improve Eswatini’s infrastructure, such as the bridge at Siphofaneni, connecting the two towns of Siphofaneni and St Phillips. We have supported the agricultural sector and smallholder farmers in the country on horticulture value chains and climate change adaptation for year round water access. Further support to emaSwati extends to the area of livestock value chain.

The EU is also supporting Eswatini to become more competitive and boost the capacity of its companies to participate and move up in regional and global value chains. Our goal is to improve the competitiveness of 1 200 enterprises comprising of MSMEs, Social Enterprises and Farmer Associations. We are also supporting energy transformation in Eswatini by boosting investments in the renewable energy sector. Our programmes, on the one hand, support the mobilisation of private investments in renewable energies and, on the other hand, provide assistance to the public sector in power sector transformation towards more green energy.

In addition, the EU has also contributed millions of Emalangeni to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 in Eswatini. Through the COVAX facility, the EU has also helped to bring COVID-19 vaccines to Eswatini. We are working to help bring underprivileged students and pregnant girls back to school. Our new MIP (Multiannual Indicative Programme) for Eswatini, which focuses on youth and skills development, aims to boost social inclusion and growth, targeting, in particular, the youth, women and vulnerable people.

Why do we provide this support? The EU is a Union of values. Solidarity features high among these values, which we all share as Europeans, even if we speak 24 different languages and have different traditions.

Values

These values are set out in the EU Treaties and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, which brings together all the personal, civic, political, economic and social rights enjoyed by the EU citizens.

With the new Samoa Agreement, which Eswatini signed on December 14, 2023, the EU, our member states and the members of the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), address emerging needs and global challenges such as climate change, ocean governance, migration, health, peace and security.

The Samoa agreement will serve as the overarching legal framework for our continued strong partnership with Eswatini in the next 20 years. The 27 EU members states and the 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries together represent around two billion people. The agreement, which succeeds the Cotonou Agreement of 2000, lays down common principles and aims to ‘promote, protect and fulfil human rights, democratic principles, the rule of law and good governance, paying particular attention to gender equality; build peaceful and resilient states and societies, tackling ongoing and emerging threats to peace and security; foster human and social development, and in particular to eradicate poverty and address inequalities, ensuring that everyone enjoys a life of dignity and that no one is left behind, with special attention paid to women and girls’. The EU unwaveringly supports Eswatini to achieve these major goals.