This year marks the 12th anniversary of the decision by the United Nations General Assembly to observe the International Day of Democracy on 15 September of each year. On this day we celebrate the immense role democracy plays in shaping human lives and entire societies remembering the sacrifices and efforts of our people to achieve it and reminding to ourselves that democracy needs to be constantly cultivated and protected.

The European Union and its Member States consider democracy to be an inseparable and integral part of the political systems. However, one does not have to flip the pages of history books too far back to find a divided Europe with many of its people oppressed by repressive regimes. In 2019, we commemorate the 30th anniversary of the revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond. From reform in Poland and Hungary, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, the Baltic human chain, the general campaign for political reform in Bulgaria to the Romanian Revolution, all of these events meant a new beginning for these countries and Europe as a whole.

Both Myanmar and the European Union and its Member States have chosen the path of democracy. Definitely not the easiest or the shortest, this path is the only one leading to the future of equal, free and prosperous societies. Nevertheless in our fast developing and interconnected world many challenges to democracy lie ahead of all of us. The European Union and its Member States hope that in these important times, protected from threats, Myanmar democracy will focus on visions of peace, unity and equality among all.