Wednesday was possibly Ihe climax of the week as it was spe nt in the p res ti g i o u s H al l of Knighl s in The Ha g u e . Queen Bea lrix allended Ihe conference, Prime MinisIer Wim Kok addressed the delegates , and Ihe Minister o f Fo rei gn Affairs Mr H ans va n Mierl o anc! the Minister o f Defense Mr Jori s Voorhoeve both made sp eec hes. Additionally th e delegales were able 10 lisl en to General j oulwan , Supreme Alli ed Commander in Europe (SACEU R). The mosl emhralling sp eec h of th e da y was debatably th e o p e ning speec h by C ri sto ph B e rtram which must have resemblecl th e a ne ma-
de by Egidio at Ihe Fifth Lateral Council in Ro me in 151 2. 11 has been said o f Egidi a's speec h lh a t it was "ha rd 10 teil
wbelber bis words lvere Ibe praclised eloquen.ce of a rel1owl1ed preacber deliveril1g Ih e keynote address, or C/Il impassion.ed al1d gellll il1e cly fo r a change of co urse before il was 100 lale " ( B.W. Tuchman , 1' .10 1, 1984). Mr Be rtram 's
o pe ning speec h was just as confrontational anel critica!.
Thufscla y was spent pre paring the Statement that was to be made o n Friday at th e closing session o f Ih e General Assembly. Making a speech w hich would refJ ecI what 35 different people from 20 different cOllntries thollght (with alltheir different perceplions o f dangers and problems) was expected 10 be difficuh. Fortunately, after a clay of debating ancl discussing Lh e las t ve rsi o n was read to the participants anel a rew small alteratio ns made al 01.30 hours.
On Friday delegales were ab le to listen 10 th e first speech made by the new Secretary General o f NATO , Mr Willy Claes and to G ijs Jelike n who prese nted the Statement. Afrer a visir to the Mauritshuis Museum and a traditional"rijst-tafel" dinner at the Van Ghent Kazerne Ihe offi cial program ended. Saturday mo rning saw th e departure of severa l exhauslecl participa nts who had spent an extremely busy but enj oyab le week in Th e Neth erlands.
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jason Magazine no. I , Febru ary 1995