Don’t sacrifice Europe amid crisis: Deputy PM

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan (2nd R), Saudi Arabian Prince Turki al-Faisal al-Saud of (C), TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, TİM President Mehmet Büyükekşi (L) and İSO President Tanıl Küçük join the International Cooperation Forum in Istanbul, which was attended by from 49 countries. AA photo

The EU is a very important peace project and it should not be sacrificed to the economic and financial crisis, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said during his speech yesterday at the International Cooperation Forum held in Istanbul, which was attended by representatives from 49 regional countries.

Babacan said the EU was a union that was established on the basis of common political benefits. “But, unfortunately, the basis for common political benefits was damaged in this [economic] crisis. The ingredients of economy and finance, which unite the countries with each other, have now been weakened,” Babacan said.

The minister said the post-crisis period in the wider region close to the EU would be very critical. “Countries should take the right steps and make the right reforms for this period,” he said.

Gül criticizes the current international order

Meanwhile, Babacan also took time to criticize the current global system of governance, echoing some of Prime Minister

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent statements.

“We shouldn’t need to wait for a new world war in order to reform the U.N. system. The U.N. Security Council can deadlock everything in matters on which the whole world feels a guilty conscious,” Babacan said. “If we don’t take the necessary steps before a new global political crisis takes place, the U.N. will start to lose its legitimacy in world public opinion,” he added.

Turkish President Abdullah Gül and Prince Turki al-Faisal al-Saud of Saudi Arabia also criticized the current international order and the order of the U.N. during their opening speeches in the forum.
Gül spoke at the conference via video link, saying that the basic structures of the current international order fell far short of meeting the requirements of the world right now.

The organizations that give direction to global politics and the global economy should go through a comprehensive reform process to be turned into more fair and inclusive organizations, starting with the U.N, he said. “It is obvious that the institutions of the U.N. are far from reflecting the new power balances in the world. As Turkey, starting with the U.N. Security Council and Bretton Woods
institutions, we want the organizations giving direction to global politics and the economy to go through a serious reform process,” Gül said.

Prince Turki al-Faisal al-Saud also said the international order that was established in 1945 was unable to meet the needs and requirements of today.

“There is a need to enable new power balances [in the world],” he said. “Today, [global] problems wait for international justice. We see a great benefit in working together to reshape the U.N. and to make it more inclusive and fair,” al-Saud added.