UN General Assembly
1998

The European Union's partnerships with regional organizations like the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) prove we are on the right course: We want an open, not a confrontational, kind of regionalism. I am confident that the European Union will be an anchor of stability in the twenty-first century. By introducing a single currency on 1 January 1999, it is focusing its energies. Its global role will increase. It is about to begin further negotiations on accession with associated partners. What Willy Brandt said about Germany in 1989 applies today to the whole of Europe: "What belongs together is now growing together". The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) too is also gradually opening its doors to the new democracies. In the year of its fiftieth anniversary it will admit Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Together with Russia, Ukraine and the other Commonwealth of Independent States members, we are developing a comprehensive security partnership. True, the Russians are having a rough time at