Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga at New Europe: "It’s the
human point of view of the identity of people and how they identify with
a nation state. If at some point they feel that the central government
does not represent their interests and that they have
an identity that they want to defend, according to the principle of
self-determination, one should allow for a referendum because a
referendum is an expression of people’s choice and people’s opinion."
In the autumn, we will have two referendums, one in Scotland and the other in Catalonia. What is your view on this?
The European Union is made up of nation states that are artificial constructs of history.
When the union was created, we accepted the territorial integrity of
the countries that joined. After all, you didn’t want to start having
territorial disputes or wars. But at the same time, Woodrow Wilson – he
wasn’t European but American - came up with the idea of the
self-determination of peoples. And we in Latvia, who had been since the
18th century under Tsarist rule, believed that we did have this right.
So did Estonians, Lithuanians and Hungarians. They all wanted their own
country.
So, you see, it’s the human point of view of the identity of people
and how they identify with a nation state. If at some point they feel
that the central government does not represent their interests and that
they have an identity that they want to defend, according to the
principle of self-determination, one should allow for a referendum
because a referendum is an expression of people’s choice and people’s
opinion.
