An impassioned plea for the unity of Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals has been made by the former Soviet leader, Mr Mikhail Gorbachev. He concluded a wide-ranging address on the problems of the modern world with a call for the European Union to admit Russia to associate membership.
Mr Gorbachev was introduced to his audience at the Institute of European Affairs (IEA) in Dublin yesterday as "a charismatic figure . . . one of the few in the contemporary world". Mr Brendan Halligan, of the IEA, said the guest speaker was "a truly great man".
There was a standing-room only crowd for the former general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, including senior politicians Mr Desmond O'Malley, Dr Garret FitzGerald and Mr John Bruton and former European Commissioner, Mr Richard Burke. Mr Gorbachev quipped: "It is almost like a Russian Orthodox church, they stand when they pray."
Now leader of the Russian Social Democratic Party, Mr Gorbachev expressed regret that the ending of the Cold War was not used more constructively to tackle global problems such as war and poverty. He reminded his listeners that on his initiative, a summit of leaders from across the continent of Europe was convened in Paris in 1990. They adopted the Charter of Paris which mapped out the road to demilitarisation and common European security.
There was "a real possibility to move towards a new world order" but that process slowed down after the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. "Even in Europe we saw a battle for spheres of influence."
When constituent republics in the Yugoslav federation began to declare their independence, they should have been invited to negotiations, but instead European states, particularly Germany, began to recognise those republics, particularly Croatia. "Then we saw the inevitable result," he said.
Since then there had been accusations of genocide at the Hague tribunal, but he sometimes thought of the "true culprits" and whether there should perhaps be a different type of tribunal.
Some people said at the time that "Europe begins at Brest, France, and ends at Brest, Belarus". Meanwhile at the United Nations, international powers wanted to create the precedent of "humanitarian intervention" as an arbitrary method of addressing issues.
Opportunities were "frittered away", the developed nations rejected a really new world order and then found themselves unprepared for globalisation. The result of unmanaged globalisation was growing poverty. "It has not reduced the gap between rich and poor," he warned.
As events at Seattle, Nice and Prague had shown, there was now an anti-globalisation movement and the G8 leaders would probably have to meet on some uninhabited island. "Maybe they should meet in Heaven, if they are accepted," he quipped.
Today, half the world was in dire poverty and terrorists were saying, "we are working for the poor". The September 11th tragedy had really shaken the world. "Now we all have to think about, 'what next'?" There was no justification for terrorism, which had to be defeated. "There is no other choice, but we need to see the root causes of terrorism and start addressing them."
Europe had to integrate, building on the "great triumph" of the European Coal and Steel Community which led to the European Union. "Now Europe has to define itself again." An alternative must be found to the conflict between the "golden billion" and the rest of the world. "We need a united greater Europe."
He pointed out, however, that enlargement to 25 or 27 members would make for a less homogenous Europe. "It will be difficult to absorb those economies." Political will and vision were needed. "We should not panic when life changes," said Mr Gorbachev.
Russia was an important part of Europe. President Bush had told him recently: "You have all the resources, you just need to get your act together."
"The EU cannot be anti-Russian or anti-American," Mr Gorbachev said.