Page 419 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

Bringing the Concept to Life

Achieving EU standards throughout Europe, while remaining a goal, is as
yet, a distant hope. In place of this, the UN is able to provide a set of minimum
economic, social and political standards, which it's hoped are more realistic, at
least in the immediate term. The United Nations is involved in trying
to implement these standards on many levels: at the grass roots UNDP runs
job creations schemes in Albania; UNITAR has chemical management
projects in Slovenia; and the UN Mission in Bosnia is responsible for
training civilian police.

At the intergovernmental level the UN is working closely with other
institutions in support of improving living standards and upholding human
rights.

Europe's interlocking institutions

The ending of the First World War, which scarred a whole generation
across Europe, saw the birth of the League of Nations here in Geneva and it
was from this that the United Nations was formed. Then, as now, the response
of the international community to ending conflict and improving stability was
to form pan-national institutions which would develop their mutual political
and culture identities beyond their sovereign borders. It has been this process
of creating surpra-national interlocking institutions across this continent which
has fueled its stability and is a process in which the United Nations is deeply
involved.

Europe has three types of pan-national institutions: transcontinental, such
as NATO and OSCE; regional, like the European Union, and the Council of
Europe, and sub-regional, like the Baltic Sea Initiative and the Black
Sea Economic Co-operation Pact. The EU is at the centre of these
European institutions, with EFTA, OSCE and NATO forming concentric
institutional rings around it.

The emergence of a European-based institutions over the last fifty years is
part of the wider process of globalization. As economies have become more
integrated, so too have political and social interests. Thus, we have seen, along
with the development of the European Union, the formation of broader-based
organizations, including the Council on Europe, and the Organization for the
Co-operation and Security in Europe. These all reflect changing attitudes
towards national interest and an increasing belief in common goals. Principles
such as democracy, the rule of law and human rights are at the core of our

397