Balkan heads of state who have been at the forefront of reconciliation
efforts in the aftermath of the civil war in the region were awarded the
prestigious European Medal of Tolerance at a ceremony in the European
Parliament.
Croatian President Ivo Josipovic and former Serbian president Boris Tadic
were presented with the medal by EJC President Moshe Kantor in his role as
Co-Chairman of the the European Council for Tolerance and Reconciliation (ECTR)
on Tuesday, October 16.
Croatian President Ivo Josipovic has occupied office since 2010, having
previously presided over the democratisation of the former Communist party, to
become the Social Democratic Party, over which he currently presides.
In April 2010, Josipovic met with the Bosnian Croat Catholic archbishop
cardinal Vinko Puljic and the head of the Islamic Community reis Mustafa Ceric
and the three made a joint visit at the sites of Ahmic massacre and Krizancevo
selo killings and paid respect to the victims.
Former Serbian President Boris Tadic served almost two terms as president,
ending in his resignation in April 2012. He has been a staunch supporter of
Serbia’s accession talks to the EU. In 2004, he made an official apology on a
trip to Bosnia-Herzigovina to all those who suffered as a result of crimes
committed in the name of the Serbian people. He has since further spoken out
against the breakup of Bosnia-Herzegovina, instead defending its territorial
integrity.
The gathering was addressed by EU President Martin Schulz who said that both
award recipients had faced great challenges in putting the past behind them in
order “to focus on progress and on the future”.
“We need to unite our efforts to fight any manifestation of extreme
nationalism, discrimination, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and racism throughout
Europe,” Schulz said. “Still today, in parts of Europe, we see the demons of the
past raise their ugly heads. This is warning to all of us. As Edmund Burke said
‘All that’s necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough
good men to do nothing.’"
Praising both recipients for their efforts in “opening the way to building
trust between Balkan nations”, former President of Poland and ECTR co-Chairman
Aleksander Kwasniewski said that “reconciliation is a long, difficult and
important process that will never be finished”, congratulating the EU on its
recent Nobel Prize award, and highlighting the founding principle of the EU as
centring on reconciliation.
“The EU vision and dream is at a crossroads,” cautioned Kantor. Whist
praising the unity between eastern and western Europe in the wake of the lifting
of the Iron Curtain, he warned of the inevitable rise of influence of far-right
nationalist parties amid a climate of financial crisis in Europe and beyond.
Talking of the need for “rules, proposals, laws” to make tolerance mandatory
across the EU, he introduced ECTR’s proposals for a general law of
tolerance.
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original article in The European Jewish Press
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