This address was given to the European Leadership Conference on the Western Balkans held at the European Parliament in Brussels on 19 November 2025.
Honourable Members, distinguished colleagues,
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. As we have heard this afternoon, the Western Balkans are at a turning point — pulled between the hope of European integration and the weight of past conflicts, political tensions, and stalled enlargement. In this delicate moment, moral and civic leadership is not optional — it is essential.
It’s clear that Europe’s security, both in the Balkans and beyond, cannot be guaranteed by institutions alone. The region faces growing hybrid threats — disinformation, cyber-attacks, organised crime, and deep social divisions. That’s why strengthening institutions must go hand-in-hand with strengthening moral and civic leadership — in families, communities, and across nations.
Let me offer four practical steps we can take:
1. Strengthen local leadership based on shared values
Rules and funding are important, but trust is built person-to-person. Local leaders — mayors, teachers, women’s groups, religious figures, and youth organisers — play a key role in calming tensions, promoting facts, and encouraging cooperation. We should invest in networks that connect these leaders across ethnic and national lines. In the divided city of Mitrovica, for example, UPF’s partner Youth and Students for Peace recently led a successful initiative to do just that.
2. Create regular channels between moral voices and political institutions
As Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon have said, religious and spiritual leaders can help political leaders rise above narrow national interests and focus on the common good. The EU and regional governments could support interfaith and civic advisory councils, joint peace commissions, and clear protocols for public engagement during crises. These bodies should advise, mediate, and reach out to communities — not hold political power. And formal settings like this Parliament or the United Nations can help prevent religious disagreements from turning into conflict.
3. Link values-based leadership to real reforms and opportunities
Words alone are not enough. Trust breaks down where poverty, corruption, and media control leave people feeling powerless. Moral leadership must be matched with investments in education, infrastructure, and independent media — so that ethical renewal leads to real change in people’s lives.
4. Train civic, religious, and youth leaders to respond to hybrid threats
We must equip leaders with tools to fight disinformation, protect digital security, and report safely. Civilian and faith leaders should be included in NATO and EU efforts to counter hybrid threats — so that responses are both effective and respectful of human rights.
In short, UPF and its Founders do not call for replacing politics with religion. They call for deeper moral values — humility, empathy, and the courage to change ourselves before trying to change others. That means working with many moral voices, protecting civic space and religious freedom, and ensuring transparency and accountability.
Let us also remember that moral leadership often comes at a cost. Many great leaders have faced prison for speaking the truth. Just last week, I visited Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon in Seoul. She is 82 years old and has been in prison for over eight weeks — not for violence or corruption, but for calling on her government to respect democracy. She is not alone. Pastors, journalists, and civil society leaders have also been jailed. I ask this Parliament not to stay silent in the face of these violations of religious freedom and human rights — especially in a country whose democracy was built with the sacrifice of young men from our nations.
In the Balkans, where painful memories still shape public life, we need leaders who can say: “Peace is more important than being right.” As the poet Rumi said more than 700 years ago:
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.
Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
That is the most realistic path to lasting peace in the Western Balkans.
Thank you.