On Tuesday, October 4, Secretary Kerry delivered remarks from The German Marshall Fund in Brussels, Belgium, on the future of the transatlantic relationship. The following is an excerpt of his remarks.
Ladies and gentlemen, I just ask you to think of where the world would be if the United States and Europe had listened to those who wanted to divide us; if we had been constantly at odds over the years instead of almost always together. We would never have defeated Communism or pulled down the Berlin Wall from both sides. We would never have placed before the world an example in action that has helped to triple the number of democracies over the last quarter century. We wouldn’t be investing now in assisting our friends in Afghanistan to defend their country against violent extremists, send their girls to school, and sustain a viable, representative government. We wouldn’t be cooperating on measures to strengthen legitimate national authorities in Libya.
We wouldn’t have led an effective – led effectively on development, helping to cut in half the number of women who die during childbirth and the number of infants who perish because of malnutrition. We wouldn’t have joined in driving the percentage of people who live in extreme poverty down to below 10 percent for the first time in human history. We wouldn’t have helped our West African partners to defy predictions to save hundreds of thousands of people who were at risk from Ebola. And we wouldn’t have combined forces with the global health community to turn the tide in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Now we can look forward to the first “born free from AIDS” generation in more than three decades.
There’s a lesson in this for everyone. We should never take for granted the good that has been achieved by the unity of Europe. We should never ignore that, which some people seem to do today so quickly and so easily. We shouldn’t turn our backs on Europe’s partnership with the United States and all that it means. We have to persist in fighting for both. The transatlantic partnership is not a trophy from the past that we can put on a shelf and just look at and admire – it’s a living, breathing, multifaceted enterprise. And we have to renew it with each generation and refuel it every day with our energy, our ideas, our resources, and – above all – our collective determination and will.
I say that because it’s true; and I say it because our partnership is central to the security of all of our countries, particularly in the changed threat environment that we face today.
*Full transcript of Secretary Kerry’s remarks
