Post by account_disabled on Mar 2, 2024 1:45:46 GMT -5
Such a birthday should not only be a reason to celebrate, but also an opportunity for critical reflection. My father always saw his birthdays as opportunities for a critical look at politics, trying to put the European politics of the day into a wider context. Sticking to this tradition, I like to start with a quote of his: " Those who do not know where they come from, do not know where they are going, because they do not know where they are staying". Many of you, ladies and gentlemen, know this expression, and I am deliberately using it as an introduction to this speech entitled: "Speech on the future of Europe".
Above all, the decisive Cambodia WhatsApp Number Data question today is: can we decide on the future of Europe, if we do not know what are the foundations and what are the recipes for its success? And by this I mean Europe as a whole and the European Union in particular, which constitutes the core of European unification. In Europe, in the last century there were several attempts to create heaven on earth: nationalism, national-socialism, communism, all these ideologies failed. They led millions of people to tragic deaths and caused massive economic damage. Ideologies are doctrines of supposed salvation, which fail to bring salvation because they contradict reason. Especially in times when people are threatened by crises, they undoubtedly become sensitive to such doctrines of salvation.
In Europe - but not only here - we take for granted, or want to take for granted, the peace and prosperity we have enjoyed since the end of the Second World War within the European Economic Community, then the European Community and now the European Union. We have ruled out crises a priori, and when they come - because crises happen even in the most peaceful times - we rely on the welfare state that was created late in Europe, in the 1970s, having its beginnings in the west of the continent. If we take a critical look at the time in which I grew up, I would say that we developed this welfare state in the shadow of the Cold War.
Above all, the decisive Cambodia WhatsApp Number Data question today is: can we decide on the future of Europe, if we do not know what are the foundations and what are the recipes for its success? And by this I mean Europe as a whole and the European Union in particular, which constitutes the core of European unification. In Europe, in the last century there were several attempts to create heaven on earth: nationalism, national-socialism, communism, all these ideologies failed. They led millions of people to tragic deaths and caused massive economic damage. Ideologies are doctrines of supposed salvation, which fail to bring salvation because they contradict reason. Especially in times when people are threatened by crises, they undoubtedly become sensitive to such doctrines of salvation.
In Europe - but not only here - we take for granted, or want to take for granted, the peace and prosperity we have enjoyed since the end of the Second World War within the European Economic Community, then the European Community and now the European Union. We have ruled out crises a priori, and when they come - because crises happen even in the most peaceful times - we rely on the welfare state that was created late in Europe, in the 1970s, having its beginnings in the west of the continent. If we take a critical look at the time in which I grew up, I would say that we developed this welfare state in the shadow of the Cold War.
