Hope is not just a feeling, it is something we must construct

Talet hölls i Bryssel den 6 november 2024 under ett forum om Europas framtid och sammanhållningspolitiken, arrangerat av Euroregion Baltic.

Welcome to this forum in connection with the board meeting with Euroregion Baltic. Especially welcome to the members of parliament and representatives of the different countries’ members of ERB, Denmark, Poland and Sweden. Thank you for taking the time to be part of this day of dialogue and cooperation.

My name is Rene Jaramillo and I am the president of ERB 2024. When I started with this role and gave my first speech in February, I said the following: We must go to Brussels to mark our presence. We must raise our voice to our own governments. We cannot only work in our secretariat and board rooms, ERB must be more communicative, public and present.

That’s why I am so very proud and happy that we are here in Brussels today to hold our board meeting, with all representatives and guests in the room. It is a symbolic and important step forward for our organization.

On a day-to-day basis, I am chairman of the regional development board in Kronoberg, a small region in southern Sweden with 200,000 inhabitants. The questions is, What does the world know about Kronoberg? Absolutely nothing.

But if I say IKEA, Volvo, NIBE, Electrolux, people get a picture of our region and the story behind it. Many strong companies, operating in a global market with their roots in a small region surrounded by forests and lakes  that have grown big, outstanding in technology and innovation.

What do the big corporate names mean to our 200,000 residents? Well, it means that we are extremely dependent on Europe and the European union. A union where companies and countries work together to strengthen our qualities.

Europe means a lot to us and we will do everything to strengthen cooperation between countries and between regions. As we in Kronoberg win from this, everyone else wins.

In Europe, we have several challenges ahead of us, and one of the most dramatic is perhaps demographics. An aging population living longer and fewer children being born, leads to difficulties in maintaining welfare and providing services to our residents.

All this while talking about difficulties with migration issues. How can we synchronize these and look at migration in new ways? We cannot continue to cannibalize each other and steal labor from each other.

It is an unsustainable competitive situation and we must face the challenges together. In the discussion about migration, we can’t only look at the inflow of people but also the outflow of people. Talents and resources that may be important to our regions now choose to leave and move to other countries.     How do we make that equation add up? An important principle is that we absolutely need to strengthen EU’s external borders against uncontrolled migration, but we cannot close ourselves off within the Union. Free movement and freedom must be protected!

Another question is how we create economic growth, increase our productivity and do more with less while taking care of the climate. We need to find new ways to secure the basics: water, energy and food. We must have the capacity to be self-sufficient in Europe in these parts. It can be done through innovation, new technology, digitalization and we must continue to encourage and invest in that sector. Europe’s companies must be competitive and economic exchange between Europe and the rest of the world must be as simple and smooth as possible. Tarrifs and trade barriers against the outside world pose a problem for us and for production in our member countries. To help us, there are good financing opportunities via the various funds in the union. An important task for us as regions and within ERB is to ensure that the projects carried out in Europe get started and produce results.

Dialogue, collaboration and cooperation have been the basis of Europe and are the basis for building a strong Europe. In a world that is divided and polarized, we must resist. Polarization within Europe is a trap for Europe, a trap for the future, a trap for growth and a better world. Instead, we must focus on cohesion. The cohesion policy is such an important process where we need to take an active part.

The cohesion policy is not a piece of paper. It is an instrument of action.

Today we wake up to a new world in many ways. The United States has gone to the polls and Trump’s victory will have consequences in the world. Regardless of what one thinks of Trump as a person, he has clearly marked that his interest is about strengthening the United States, raising tariffs on goods from China and the rest of the world will make it more expensive for our companies to export to the United States. The transatlantic trade flow is the most important in the world, and his new policies could have massive consequences for our European companies. Not to mention the security policy situation. Trump’s ”promises” to stop financial aid to Ukraine, and to end the war within 24 hours, risk strengthening Russia. American troops will leave European soil, American involvement in NATO will gradually decrease. How should the EU react on this?

It’s no secret that we live in dark times, with conflicts, wars and a declining democracy in the world. Now is the time to look inward, to the core values that has built our continent. Democracy, participation, solidarity and a strong belief in growth are values we must protect.

My colleagues, Our job is not only to handle the reality, it’s also about building hope for the future. Hope is not only a state of mind but something we must construct. It takes willpower, which is something we all possess. But we can’t do it on our own, we must do it together.

The intention with this introduction was not to imprint my image of Europe on you, but a way to light the spark to get started with today’s conversation.

My friends, The last thing I want to say is that I was born in Chile, I moved to Europe when I was 23, only because of love for my Swedish wife. Now I am 46 years old, I stand here today, in the middle of Europe’s political center, Brussels, to talk about why the European union is so important. I may have been born in Chile, but today I am European, and I will do everything in my power to secure that my children will live in a strong Europe, prosperous and free, where people and countries develop, side by side.

Thank you very much.

René Jaramillo, President of Euroregion Baltic.