Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željko Komšić, during the summit of the European Political Community, which is being held in Granada, addressed the round table on the topic: “Multilateralism, including security and geostrategic issues”, his office announced.
In his presentation, Komšić stated that the European political community is an example of multilateralism, which is used to strengthen commitment to our common political idea of Europe, which is based on liberal democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
“Our vote against Russian aggression against Ukraine is a clear sign that the European political community opposes violent border changes and aggression. This is based on our common system of values and determination to persist in the fight for these values. I was in Ukraine two months ago and firmly I believe that the outcome of that war will determine the future of European political architecture,” said Komšić.
According to him, multilateralism still functions within the principles of consultation, inclusiveness and solidarity. Multilateralism allows us to reach common opinions and launch joint actions on various issues, from climate change and the response to COVID 19, to supporting the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
“However, I believe that sustainable and effective cooperation does not follow. The main challenge is how to implement what was agreed and how to overcome the challenges that multilateralism faces, which concern the sovereign interests of states. What we are facing is that ‘ad hoc’ interests of sovereign states threaten to threaten the very foundations of multilateralism. When multilateralism is weak, geostrategy dominates and security issues grow,” he said.
He believes that now it may be difficult to distinguish between security and geostrategic issues. Ten years ago, Europe was under terrorist attacks by ISIL. At that time, an unprecedented wave of migration caused enormous humanitarian and political problems. After that, the COVID-19 pandemic called into question the principle of solidarity as well as the economy.
Today we are witnessing cyber threats, misuse of social networks and artificial intelligence. Growing radical chauvinist populism profits from uncontrolled cyberspace, spreading hate speech and undermining efforts to promote human rights and universal values.
These challenges undermine the very basis of multilateralism and our shared values on which Europe is built. Moreover, it is no different at the global level.
“Recently, I was at the UN General Assembly where all the speeches dealt with individual state problems packaged under multilateral topics, while injustices and latent hypocrisy in multilateral institutions were identified. Therefore, my message is that the process of undermining the effects of multilateralism, and questioning fundamental values shared by civilized societies, directly favors totalitarian, undemocratic regimes. I believe this process is intentional. It is an attack on the current world architecture; an architecture based on respect for democracy and human rights. It is intended to overthrow multilateralism with the support of political players operating within of various multilateral institutions that try to call into question the basic values on which these multilateral organizations were built and the purposes for which they were built,” said Komšić.
