Germany yesterday marked 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall that ushered in the end of communism and national reunification, as the Western alliance that helped secure those achievements is riddled with divisions.
Two days before the date that brought epochal change, French President Emmanuel Macron dropped a bombshell, declaring that transatlantic partnership NATO was suffering from “brain death” and that Europe itself was “on the brink.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel responded with uncharacteristic sharpness, saying on Thursday that “I don’t think that such sweeping judgements are necessary,” and the ensuing storm over NATO laid bare the growing differences among traditional allies.
Photo: Reuters
The bad-tempered prelude to the festivities stood in sharp contrast to celebrations five years ago, when former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former Polish president and freedom icon Lech Walesa were present.
This time, leaders of former Cold War powers were to be absent, as US President Donald Trump’s “America first” policy, the UK’s Brexit struggles and Russia’s resurgence put a strain on ties.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit ended on Friday, while Macron was only planning a flying visit today, leaving the actual anniversary on Nov. 9 without globally prominent figures.
Pompeo also left behind a stark warning: “As we celebrate, we must also recognize that freedom is never guaranteed.
“Today, authoritarianism is once again rising,” he said, namechecking China and Russia.
Carrying a similar message, incoming European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said that the euphoric optimism over liberal democracy and freedom that characterized Nov. 9, 1989, has dissipated.
“Today, we have to admit that our complacency was naive,” Von der Leyen said. Russia is “using violence to shift established borders in Europe and is trying to fill every vacuum that the US has left behind.”
Hopes that China would develop closer to the Western liberal democracy model has not been fulfilled, she added.
Beyond the cracks surfacing in the global arena, a new chasm is opening up within Germany, with the far-right gaining a strong foothold in the former communist states.
Underlining the problem herself, Merkel said those who thought the differences between the former communist East and the capitalist West could be ironed out earlier, sees “that it would take half a century or more.”
Debate has also opened up more intensively over the differences between the East and West as “nationalist and protectionist trends have gained ground worldwide, thereby fueling more discussion too form a national perspective,” Merkel told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Amid the somber mood, a serious political program was planned for yesterday, with central European presidents to headline the official ceremonies.
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