André Brie, September 19, 2006, Contribution to the „Dresdner Blättl“

 

The EU and October 3, 1990

 

 

When the Berlin wall fell in November 1989, the European Parliament convened to a solemn extraordinary session, and October 3, 1990 was of course considered by many European politicians as a similar day of celebration. Back then and later, for instance on occasion of the joining of Europe by the Central and East European countries on May 1, 2004, there was also often the question of the “reunification of Europe”. When Europe is supposed to have been united once before, you should better not ask, but that is another problem. A Europe without frontiers, let alone walls, that was and is for many a great vision to which they felt close in 1990.

 

Reality has caught up with Europe, however, in every way. Not only that I am asked again and again incredulously, last time a week ago in Helsinki, why the East German economy despite hundreds of billions of Euros in transfer payments from the federal budget and from the European Union was not by itself capable to a self-supporting development and to overcoming of the horrendous mass unemployment. Not only that the topic of German unification hardly plays a public role still in EU- Europe. Not only that in the debates that we have with South Korean politicians, we are warned of such a kind of unification. Europe has abandoned thoroughly the goal celebrated and announced back then to do away with walls. By way of the Schengen agreement, we have built up bureaucratic and juridical walls; by way of the European visa policy, tourism, economic and cultural cooperation with Russia, Ukraine and other European countries outside of the EU are massively hindered; by way of the European asylum policy, EU- Europe is being turned into a fortress against the refugees from the conflict and poverty- stricken regions in the South; and with the most consequence, the European trade, economic and agricultural policy tries to shut off the half-continent against the catastrophes of the world, by the way often caused here.

 

It is a dangerous politics that at this point exacerbates mainly the pain and the catastrophes in the South of the world, however just like any wall will however not only be futile, but will acutely highlight the necessity and threaten the capacity for change of the European Union. We might still learn from the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification. Yet one does not seem to want it, however.