Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs Captivates with Globalization Talk

Greece's Minister for Foreign Affairs outlined a detailed vision for the progress of European unification and globalization to a packed auditorium in Boylston Hall yesterday.

George Papandreou, who has headed Greece's Ministry of Foreign affairs since March, has also served as a member of Parliament and as minister of education.

Yesterday's speech focused on globalization and on more specific issues affecting the Balkan region.

"We want to help convert the kaleidoscope of races and minorities in the region into an instrument of solidarity, stability and multi-cultural cooperation," he said.

Globalization is key to the Balkan region, Papandreou said, as well as to Greek security in particular.

"Stability in our region is the pre-requisite for Greek security, and we define stability to mean the practice of democracy, the strengthening of institutions, the reduction of economic inequalities and the rule of law," he said.

He then delved into Greece's hopes for future progress. Speaking with "optimism and pride," Papandreou discussed the ideals espoused by his nation.

"Our vision for our immediate region is simple; we hope that Europe will once again be united," Papandreou said. "This vision stands as the guiding light in our foreign policy's foremost objective."

Papandreou discussed the importance of global cooperation in general.

"It is the political aspects of globalization that will present the greatest challenge of the new millennium," he added.

Papandreou said the ideals of political globalization, because it is such a broad concept, must be adopted individually by each nation, and first conquered on a national level before engaging in any kind of international integration.

"Political globalization must be able to represent its global 'demos' [people] democratically and it must make the citizens of the world participants in the political and economic process of transition to a more integrated globalized world," Papandreou said.

Papandreou cited problems with the current world order. He referred to the situations in Iraq and Yugoslavia, where violence directed at the government was deflected unto the citizens of then country.

"For the purpose of deposing an authoritarian ruler [in Iraq], human suffering became subordinate to other political objectives," Papandreou added.

Though his vision seemed "far-fetched," he said, "so was that of a united Europe" when originally proposed. Papandreou then continued to delineate the procedure that Greece hoped to follow.

Papandreou stated that Greece's policy on individual nations in the regions is identical: Greece would like to see all countries of the Balkans to be "united, peaceful and democratic, multi-cultural and [a member of] the European Union."

This includes areas where Greece has previously been part of international tensions, such as Turkey and Cyprus.

Papandreou--who spent a year at Harvard in 1992-1993 as a fellow for the Center for International Affairs--says Greece would actively support Turkey's candidacy for membership in the European Union, and has been happy with bilateral relations since both nations have been stricken by earthquakes during the past few months.

Papandreou's speech was the 17th in the Spaak Lecture Series, sponsored by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.