President Mesic opened the conference by stating that after every war, any country and its citizens must face its own horrors. “In the European Union, there will be no more motives for wars, because there will be no borders, and nobody like Milosevic will be able to abuse the rights of national minorities as an excuse for war fighting”, said the President, who also reminded his audience of Croatia’s recent experience of brutal war.
This experience leads directly to the question as to whether long-term peace is possible in the Balkan area. In addition to this, Mesic reminded the conference of the wars between Germany and France, that happened because of both side’s alleged need to expand one’s own territory. To some degree, it was the wars on the European continent throughout the 20th century that lead to the idea of a united Europe, a commonwealth of countries so closely integrated that cooperation would be significantly strengthened, borders would be erased and wars over teritory would thus be history.
The four-day conference was organized by the Center for Peace Studies – CMS, in cooperation with Croatian Youth Network, Centre for Dealing With the Past – Documenta, and the Spanish Youth Council.
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Video – Croatian Daily News
