Present crisis as an opportunity
Is Europe facing an abyss? A number of countries have been shaken by the fi nancial crisis. Greece is facing national bankruptcy, Portugal, Spain, Italy are being buffeted by the economic and fi – nancial crisis. One in two young people in Spain cannot fi nd work. Populists and rightwing extremists use the uncertainty for their propaganda. The warnings of Cassandras are uncalled-for. The ‘old continent’, however, is certainly in transition. European countries enjoy in global comparison a high standard of living, European citizens, unlike in the United States and most countries in the world, a high degree of social security. The state provides for the needy and the sick.
At the end of the Second World War, Europe was in ruins, especially Germany, which had ignited the confl agration. German cities were destroyed. Central-East European Jewry had been murdered or had largely fl ed from their home countries. In Central Europe, an iron curtain came down behind which the Stalinist dictatorship ruled with ruthless severity. The economy of Western Europe was in ruins.
Not least thanks to the American Marshall Plan, Western Europe stabilized quicker than expected. West Germany managed a currency reform. The sturdy D-Mark was born in 1948 – it remains a hallmark of German reconstruction. The Western zones joined together to form the Federal Republic of Germany. The country got a liberal constitution and held democratic elections.
End of enmity
As a result of their devastating battles, the former leadership elites of France and Germany realized that their so-called ‘hereditary enmity’ had to be finally overcome. Thus, the French foreign minister Robert Schuman and German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer joined with the Benelux countries and Italy to form the European Coal and Steel Community, the ECSC, known as the Montanunion. This resulted in the European Economic Community. At the same time, at first almost imperceptibly, Islam established itself in Europe. First, in Britain, as a result of the partition of India in 1947. After that came the collapse of the French possessions in North Africa, with Muslims emigrating to the French homeland. Starting in the 60’s, more and more believers in Islam came to Germany.
The Federal Republic needed workers, but people came. Today, 17 million Muslims live in the EU. With many voices, they are beginning to defi ne and articulate their interests. Muslims have become part of Europe.
Its finest hour
The Western European economy was so successful that more and more countries aimed at membership in the European Community. Europe experienced its fi nest hour, a united Europe, after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and following the collapse of the Soviet bloc.
East Germany was swiftly integrated into the West German Federal Republic. Germany was now the undisputed champion of Europe. From communist satellites of the Soviet Union in Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, the Baltic States & Co., came vibrant democracies, which also sought and found their way to Western Europe. NATO has enlarged, but especially the EU. Due mainly to the memory of the wars and crimes of the Hitler regime in many European countries, the prospect of German re-unification provoked fear. The then Chancellor Helmut Kohl took this fear seriously. The introduction of a common currency before a fi scal union was the price Germany paid for re-unification.
It seemed that all the countries in the euro currency, introduced in 2002, were reaping benefits. The already strong German export industry boomed. In partner countries, interest rates on government bonds fell. Some governments took advantage of such unrestrained debt. Germany, on the other hand, undertook economic reforms and saved in order to bear the trillions of debt caused by re-unifi cation. In this way, the economic dominance of Germany in Europe increased even more.
European lobbying
At the same time the hitherto sovereign states gave more and more powers to the EU bureaucracy in Brussels. Today, key provisions are made less and less by state legislatures. At the same time, more power accrues to the EU Commission. Laws are passed by the European Parliament. This shows a change in lobbying. Modern and successful advocacy shifts its focus away from individual countries to the EU headquarters in Brussels and Strasbourg.
After the Holocaust, the Jewish community of Germany was wiped out. Founded in 1950, the Central Council of Jews in Germany represented an insecure, dying community. The collapse of the Soviet Union brought to German Jewry an unexpected immigration. Today the Jewish community in Germany has more than 100,000 souls, a new German-Jewish self-esteem in culture and society is developing. If we compare Europe with other places, European concerns are relativized. Debt is lower than in the United States. It is, however, alarmingly high. Europe must reform via solidarity through a balance between prosperity and poverty. Berlin wants and will help its partners, but its economic power is not unlimited.
Germany’s Jewish community is small, delicate, but her mind is quite sensitive. It only has to muster its courage to express its interests and be more self-confident. This attitude is not only valid for the Jews on this continent, but for all Europeans independently of their religious belief or their nationality. Europe has good perspectives.