“Europe, A Continent United?” – Panel discussion in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

More than 60 guests assembled to attend the panel discussion organized by the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) Amman Office, in partnership with the German Embassy Amman. Among them: Ambassadors and other diplomats from Europe and beyond, as well as over 20 members of the Jordanian Foreign Service and dozens of friends and partners of FNF in Jordan.

The evening began on a distinctly ceremonial and festive note, with the Jordanian and German national anthems followed by a welcome note by Dr. Kamel Abu Jaber, former Jordanian Foreign Minister and current adviser at the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy. Dr. Abu Jaber welcomed the audience, providing first glimpses and food for thought concerning the evening’s topic.

Mr. Ralf Erbel, Director of the FNF Amman office, delved into the centrality of the 1989 revolution’s values – freedom, self-determination, democracy – for liberal thought, and the universal relevance of many a lesson of the history of Berlin.

Mr. Erbel then gave the floor to the evening’s keynote speaker, Dr. Hans-Georg Fleck, FNF Director Jerusalem. A trained historian, former FNF director in Central and Eastern European states and contemporary witness of the 1989 revolution, Dr. Fleck during his evening’s keynote speech inspiringly and eloquently presented his reflections on the peaceful revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe 20 years ago and their consequences for the on-going process of European unification.

Dr. Fleck pointed out that, until the middle of the 20th century, European history had been far from peaceful. In his opinion, it had not been visionaries of a future unified Europe who had set the pace of the political process but those which tried to keep as much as possible from yesteryear’s structures. Said Dr. Fleck: “The long and winding road of bringing the European integration forward mostly ended up in the politics of bits and pieces, in the fine arts of political compromise.”

The fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of communism and the German and European reunification had primarily been ramifications of revolutionary acts of peoples – peoples who wanted to achieve freedom, the rule of law, an efficient economy, and national self-determination. To come closer to new forms of inter-national and supra-national cooperation, Europe needed time. Europe – a continent united? In Dr. Fleck’s opinion: not yet.

In the following discussion, facilitated by Mr. Ralf Erbel, the German Ambassador Dr. Joachim Heidorn set out his point of view, an optimistic one: While Europe still had a long way to go to achieve all its goals, there were already remarkable milestones to be proud of. The Euro – the common European currency which had required giving up an essential part of national sovereignty for all Euro states – but which had turned out to be worth it. The “Schengen Area”, and, most recently, the Lisbon treaty, which paved the way for further European integration with new important accomplishments such as the post of a European President, and a common “Foreign Minister” for the EU.

The Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Jordan, Ivana Holoubkova, shared in the optimistic view. The Czech Republic’s recent history – marked by communism, then European Union membership – had proved that change is possible. However, the taking root of democracy could take three generations. But this young European generation knew: people are free to speak and to criticize – every country’s and every individual’s voice was heard. In Ambassador Holoubkova’s words: “The beauty of democracy.”

Dr. Kamel Abu Jaber for his part admired what he called the positive pragmatism of Europe since World War II. In light of this, Dr. Abu Jaber called on Europe to “keep doing what you are doing” but encouraged Europeans to “take it easy” and recognize their achievements. Expressing his wish for the wind of change which had changed Europe to spread elsewhere, Dr. Abu Jaber concluded that the world needed a strong and determined European voice, in the Middle East in particular.

And they took it easy – at least that evening. Running half an hour over time due to the lively discussions that developed, the evening ended with a reception that provided a most suitable setting for further discussions on “Europe – A Continent United?”.