Speech by H.E Yves Leterme by the acceptance of doctorate honoris causa for public administration

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Thank you.  Members of the Nichols College Board of Trustees, President Fels, President Craen, Dr. Anderson, Faculty, Staff and Administration, Family and Friends, and Graduates, good morning.

It is a great honour for me to receive this doctorate honoris causa for public administration.  I have devoted a large part of my life to public service because I firmly believe that politics can and does make a difference to the people's lives, to society and to a country.

I once heard Dr Craen telling students graduating from his European University in Munich that w.w.w. means Welcome to the World of Work.

This is indeed what I would like to do to all of you who are now poised to enter the labour market : extending, most sincerely, this welcome and hoping you will all find meaningful and rewarding work.

I do not have to tell you how important this is in a person's life. This country, the United States of America, became a great country and a beacon for people all over the world, because of its work ethic.

Now, these are two important words, work and ethic. A work ethic is needed for a country to create prosperity, to create wealth which benefits not only individuals but the whole of society.

But something else is just as necessary, and that is ethics in work, in every economic activity. This is not just a moral position; it is also a very practical one.

We paid very dearly in 2008, and we are still paying, because some financial operators forgot this, and were driven, not by sound business principles, not by business ethics, but by pure greed.

What happened then was that governments, here and in Europe and elsewhere in the world, suddenly had to save the system, to help underpin banks, to restore confidence in the financial system. I, too, played a part in this as the Prime Minister of Belgium, and I can tell you that we, and our government colleagues, aides and experts, literally worked day and night developing a rescue plan. We were compelled to do so to save our citizens from suffering massive losses because of a minority's disregard of business ethics.

And this is the second point I want to make. As I said, a work ethic is needed for a country to progress. But there is no real free enterprise without government, without a good policy.

Ronald Reagan once said that a Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases, and I quote: "If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidise it".

Maybe he meant this as criticism of so called big government but, frankly, I think this is not at all a bad definition of government. It has been shown time and again that an unfettered free market sooner or later ceases to be free, because of monopolistic tendencies, and thus ceases to be a market. There is no genuine freedom without discipline and self-discipline and without a fundamental morality. It is the task of government to guarantee that the economy is governed by sound rules and that these rules are respected.

That is why good government and the rule of law are of key importance. Of course, one can get rich quickly in a Wild West economy, but that is not the kind of society we want to live in on either side of the Ocean.

When I say the Ocean, I mean of course the Atlantic Ocean. There is a line in an old musical which says something like: the Pacific is terrific but the Atlantic is romantic. I do not know how many of you have crossed the Atlantic. I hope many of you have done so or will do so.

I say this not because I think or hope that you will find romance on or across the Atlantic. I say this because of the strong and essential ties binding North America and Europe across the Atlantic. It is a strong relationship because no two regions in the world have economies which are intertwined to such an intense degree. It is an essential one because we share basic values like the belief in freedom, in human dignity, in the equality of men. We believe, as President Lincoln said in Gettysburg, in the government of the people, by the people, for the people.

These values, these rights are what demonstrators all over North Africa and the Middle East are now clamouring for, often at the risk of losing their lives. That demonstrates that these values are truly universal.

Those popular revolts against oppressive governments also demonstrate something else. They show us that regimes that govern without the consent of their people only bring a semblance of stability. Sooner or later a spark ignites revolts and they are toppled.

This means that promoting open and accountable government is not just a matter of principle, of conviction. It is also a practical matter of  creating international stability. Democracies can seem to be messy, and often are. But at the same time, open governments are accountable and predictable, and in this way contribute to international stability. All of us who abhor violence and war have an interest in promoting and spreading open government. There, as in business, ethics and values are not only a moral proposition,  but also of practical value.

Consistent with these very same beliefs, Belgium will always stand by the United States and all of those fighting terrorism.  Our democracies and our people cannot allow society to be conducted under the threat of terror, one which can strike with impunity.  This runs counter to the values of democracy.  In a message of congratulations I sent to President Obama, on hearing about the death of Osama bin Laden, I told him how much relief this news brings to people around the world : the crime did not remain unpunished.

Those are the three points I wanted to make: the importance of ethics and work, the importance of government, the importance of the relationship between Europe and America, between my country and yours.

I would like to end here and once again wish you every success. One last word: the best job is not necessarily the one which pays the most, but the one you like doing. There is a saying, and I quote : "If you want to be happy for one year, win a lottery. If you want to be happy for your whole life, do something you like." (end of quote) Thanks to the wide range of options Nichols College offers, even offering an MBA in Sport Management, it should not be too hard for you to find a stimulating job.

So, the best of luck and congratulations to you all, the class of 2011!