DAY 146 - LJUBLJAN, SLOVENIA

15 September, 2011

Total: 1404.14 miles Total: 2,760, 481 steps

With the British Embassy doing such a great job with my visit in Croatia, Chris Hodge, who serves both missions, asked if I would be willing to do a quick visit up to Slovenia. I had been off the road for five days and was feeling the need to make progress, but I remind myself that this venture isn’t about the walk, it is about the truce, so with another opportunity to meet with policymakers and the press in a different country—there must be a good reason for me to say “no”.

The bonus for agreeing to the trip was that I get to travel by my favourite mode of transport—no, definitely not walking—the train. The quality of train services in Southeatsern Europe is very poor and especially in Croatia, which is certainly something that will need to be addressed as part of putting in place the infrastructure for integrating the economy of Croatia with the rest of Europe. That said, the railway station in Zagreb, which was built for the orient Express traffic, is a spectacular example of the importance of the train in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

We stopped at the border with Slovenia for over half an hour to allow for vigorous passport inspections and you realise that this is in fact the border of the EU we are crossing. My passport came in for particularly close examination because it is old that the gold writing and symbols on the front have all but worn off. I was taken out of the main carriage whilst checks were carried out using UV light and further questions were asked—very courteously. Still I returned to my seat and fellow passengers averted their gaze as if I was clearly some undesirable up to no good.

At Ljubljana station I was met from the train by the ultra efficient Dunja Cvek and ushered into the waiting Embassy Car, which happened to be a rather luxurious silver Daimler. As I dropped my rucksack in the boot and Lojze Prsa, the cheerful but formal driver opened the rear door, I was passed by a few fellow passengers from my carriage who were clearly now very confused. I must admit I feel the same and the switching between extremes of luxury and hardship do have a disorientating effect on my thinking. The truth, I conclude, is that in order to walk, I need the conditions to be hard as this is what keeps me going—the prospect of finishing.

I was taken straight to the impressive residence where the immaculate and welcoming housekeeper Tatyanna explained the routine—including, luxury of all luxuries, the washing machine and tumble dryer where I could wash my clothes with real washing detergent. Dunja then took me through the programme for the following day, which was very impressive, especially since the plans had only been confirmed two days ago. This was actually a lesson I took away with me about Slovenia in general—it is a place that just works in a very efficient way, almost Swiss-German in its look and feel.

In the evening the ambassador, Andrew Page and the director of the British Council, James Hampson, took me out to a traditional Serb restaurant—I think called Cad (but pronounced Chad) and give me a fascinating exposition on the economic and social history of the Slovenes and, in exchange, I told them about the Olympic Truce. They grasped the concept easily as they are both very keen sportsmen—Andrew has played tennis and real tennis at a very high level and James had played rugby. It was a very enjoyable evening and very informative in terms of the approach I should take in the meetings, especially at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the next day.

Our first visit the next day was to an Amnesty International seminar on racism, which was addressed by Doreen Lawrence, the mother of Stephen Lawrence who was murdered in an unprovoked racist attack in 1993.  It was an act which shocked the nation, not only for the tragic loss of life, but also for what it told us about our own systems of justice and the frightening views of some white young men who perpetrated the attack, but almost twenty years on have yet to be convicted or punished for their crimes. Doreen Lawrence spoke with great moral authority, combined with an absolute resolve not to rest until justice has been done. Stephen Lawrence was training to be an architect when he was murdered and in his memory the family have also established the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, which supports young people in London who have a talent for maths and design to pursue a profession in architecture. I can’t help thinking that in the area of racism, probably more than any other, we struggle because of our secularised society to control these latent urges to seek difference with a thousand laws, rather than accepting one overwhelming fact: that God created all men and women equal. To refuse to accept any brother or sister as of equal value and worth, is to reject the parenthood of God and I suppose that is what we have done.

James Hampson and I arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs slightly early, but were accommodated immediately by Dragoljuba Bencina (pic), State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The meeting went extremely well, although the State Secretary had worked with the UNHCR in the Middle East and also in New York and so had shared helpful insights and some frustrations about the ability of the UN to act in certain areas. For instance she spoke about her efforts to arrange a football match between Palestinian and Israeli boys in the West Bank and the frustratingly slow progress of trying to arrange even a simple act of friendship and reconciliation. We then discussed the mechanics of the Truce Resolution and options for how the Slovenian government might respond. Our ambassador who was unable to attend the meeting, because of a long standing trade related engagement, had advised me to try and link the truce resolution to the Slovenian bid for the UN Security Council, in which they had stated that their main priorities would be conflict prevention, preventative diplomacy and peace-keeping. They were currently trying to secure support from other members of the Security Council and the vote was on October 14—three days before the UK proposes the Olympic Truce Resolution to the UN General Assembly. No one had to say much when this fact was pointed out, we just smiled. It was a very good meeting with a highly able and astute foreign policy specialist in Dragoljuba Bencina. I left hopeful that Slovenia might declare their intention to sign the truce and also to implement.

DAY 144 - ZAGREB AND ANOTHER COUNTRY SIGNS UP TO IMPLEMENT THE TRUCE

13 September, 2011

Total: 1404.14 miles Total: 2,760, 481 steps

The timing of my visit to Zagreb proved challenging for the reason that there was far too much going on with Usian Bolt and Real Madrid, both in town—but it was challenging politically too for the opposite reason that parliament had not yet resumed from the summer recess and with an election in the offing politicians were wishing to maximise the time in their constituencies. I had however met the president and the prime minister at the 20 Anniversary celebrations, so it was an opportunity to meet with a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration—Aleksandar Heina (pic—right). I was accompanied by HMA David Blunt (left), who had arrived for the meeting in great style on his three wheel electric tricycle resplendent in Union Jack livery.

David opened the meeting, after the formalities, by informing Aleksandar that the Olympic Truce had the support of the entire British government from the top downwards and they were offering the Olympic Truce, and myself as a champion of it, every possible support. It was an impressive introduction, so even for a ‘B-team’ politician, it was difficult to miss the opportunity to advance the cause and this proved to be the case – not least because Aleksandar was receptive to the message and intrigued by the possibilities of the Olympic Truce. As is often the case now, I am finding that conversations are moving on from “what is the truce?” to “what can we do to implement the truce?” Moreover, as a result of having many such conversations, it was possible to present a menu of possible responses for the Croatian government to consider.

Without doubt the idea which generated greatest interest was the idea of using the banner of the truce to award scholarships from different community backgrounds in Kosovo to study in Croatia. There was also discussion as to whether the truce or the wider topic of peace-building through sport, could be on the agenda of the prestigious Croatian Summit which is held each year in Dubrovnik and focuses on Southeastern Europe policy issues. It was a workmanlike and focused conversation and made all the more so by the fact that it wasn’t led by big picture politicians, but by David and Aleksandar who know how to get the wheels of policy turning.

The previous evening, I had attended a reception for the Swiss Club—a Swiss trade promotion event organised by the Swiss embassy and had an unexpected response to an introduction when  Frederik Vahlquist, Swedish Ambassador said “You must be Elizabeth’s brother.” I responded proudly that I was indeed and Frederik went on to explain how he had become good friends with the family during the time that my brother-in-law John Powell had been on a posting there through the NAO. He had been following my progress closely since I had left Greece—there were jokes that the Swedish Intelligence Network must be in very good shape, “yes” he replied, but the “Anglican Intelligence Network is in even better shape.” John, Liz and their family had attended, and probably been responsible, for half the congregation of the small Anglican church in Zagreb.

Another mutual friend, Drazen Glavas, had kindly managed to set up a meeting with one of the very few parliamentarians in town–Marijana Petir, MP and Vice president of the Croatian Peasants Party (HSS). Marijana had organised a tour of the wonderful parliament building in St Mark’s Square followed by lunch in the member’s dining room. There is a natural understanding amongst politicians, especially as the election is in the offing, and a mixture of fear and hope that is unmistakable. Although young Marijana had taken a number of courageous stands during her time in parliament on moral issues and had won respect for that in most quarters, her positions have come under attack from some other areas, as is so often the case.

We talk at length about how to remain true to your values and yet at the same time be effective as a politician. It is a very difficult dividing line and one that I have been on both sides of on many occasions. I was surprised to learn that in the Croatian parliament they did not give members free votes on moral issues, as is the case most of the time in the UK. As a former Whip, I regard it as a huge thing to vote against your party on any matter because the electorate have in general voted for the party rather than the person and they therefore have a right to expect that their views will be represented. This is especially the case in the terrible system in Croatia, which some people advocate for the UK, where the proportional Party List system puts the power in the hands of those who SELECT the list, rather than those who ELECT the list.

Marijana is an honest, hard working and conscientious member of the Croatian parliament and I hope that this fact will be remembered by the HSS when they come to assemble their list for the December elections and that they have the good sense to abandon whipped votes on moral matters to avoid needlessly bringing MPs’ into conflict with their party.

DAY 141 - ZAGREB AND A MEETING WITH THE PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE

10 September, 2011

Total: 1404.14 miles Total: 2,760, 481 steps

It was a sports mad week in Zagreb—first was the Borisa Hanzekovica, IAAF, World Challenge Athletics Meeting at which Usain Bolt (pic) the fastest man on earth would compete and Croatian legend, Blanka Vlasic would seek to recover from her surprise defeat in World Championships in Degu. Then there was the match of the decade—Dynamo Zagreb v Real Madrid, but first we had been invited as guests of the Croatian Olympic Committee to their 20^th Anniversary Celebrations at spectacular National Theatre.

The ticket said Mezanin Desno, Loza 9, Sjdalo 4. This turned out to be a very special ticket indeed, as it was in the same box as the President of the International Olympic Committee, Count Jacques Rogge and the President of the European Olympic Committee, Patrick Hickey and was next to the President of Croatia, Ivo Josipović and the Prime Minister of Croatia, Jadranka Kosor. Of course, during the event, which was extremely well organized with high quality entertainment, there was little opportunity to give my neighbours a nudge in the ribs and mention the Olympic Truce, but immediately afterwards our Ambassador worked the line like a maestro, not only effecting introductions for me to all the key figures, but even managing to get us an invitation to the exclusive post event dinner for around a dozen special guests on the balcony overlooking the gardens of the National Theatre.

I had to pinch myself to believe this was happening as the President of the International Olympic Committee was someone whom I had tried to reach on a number of occasions as a strong supporter and advocate for the Olympic Truce, but without success. President Rogge was very interested and supportive of the walk and even offered to host me when I came through Lausanne and organise a foot massage for me. We spoke about his efforts to use the Truce to broker sporting relations in the Middle East which had proved extremely challenging, but we also talked about the success in 1994 for the use of the Truce to break the Siege of Sarajevo and speculated whether this could happen again at the time of the London Games.

We were then joined at our table by the President of the European Olympic Committee who was amazed that he had not heard of the walk and wanted to know what more could be done to promote the truce. He promised to give Seb Coe a call and tell him of our meeting and with impeccable follow-up within 24 hours he had done that as well as written to all Olympic committees in the European group to encourage them to do more to mark the truce. Jacques Rogge also followed up within a couple of days giving me his contact details and repeating his offer of hospitality in Lausanne.

I had absolutely no idea that these figures who would be absolutely integral to the widespread implementation of the Olympic Truce would be at this event and would never have anticipated that I would be able to get the access to them that I did. It was a fantastic encouragement and perhaps another one of those turning points.

I feel a bit odd being among the sporting fraternity—truth be known as I have absolutely no background in sport, but the more I see of the organization and the more my admiration grows for the lifetime of dedication and perseverance which athletes give, often voluntarily, to their chosen sport and the transformation that it can bring about in the lives of the young.

We were invited to the press conference a couple of days before the Athletics Meeting and there we saw the celebrities of the sporting world being interviewed, first with great skill, by Britain’s Tim Hutchings, a former 5000 metres champion, and now a commentator with a number of organisations including Eurosport and IMG. Of all the athletes interviewed Dyron Roubles, a 110 metre hurdler from Cuba, impressed me the most; though the interviews with Usain Bolt and Blanka Vlasic were of course compulsive viewing. But of course these people are the cream of the crop, the celebrities who secure tens of thousands of pounds for just showing up at a meeting and then more if they win, or break records. But for every celeb of the sporting circuit there are hundreds more getting Easy Jet flights, staying in lodgings and only able to compete because of the support of family. It is still a wonderful life for any person and it endures.

On my final day in Zagreb our enterprising and highly able press officer at the Embassy, Bernard Vrbran, managed to arrange a photo opp with seven former Olympians from rowing and Water Polo—two sports at which Croatian teams have traditionally excelled. We were to do a walk around the incredible Jarun rowing lakes, which were man-made lakes and given the week it had been, it was amazing to get any athlete or any press there at all, but Bernard pulled off a tremendous coupe and the walk was well attended by athletes and journalists. We had a great time as they spoke about their sporting achievements, but what amazed me most was that they should be interested and even admire the notion of a politician walking to promote the Olympic Truce. I should not have been surprised because the sense of being an Olympian, part of the most elite club in the world, and perhaps even in history, meant that they cared about the Olympic values and the purpose of the Games. Coupled with this, they had known first-hand the bloody nature of armed conflict, and so  the notion of the Olympics and a means of bringing peace between nations and within nations, rested as easily with them as their sporting prowess.

Pictured: Dubravko Simenc; Marko Banovic; Tomislav Smoljanovic; Damir Skaro; Oliver Martinov Tomislav Paskvalin and the little guy in the middle is me.