Forty years ago, France and Germany signed a 'Friendship Treaty' that put an end to the repeated wars between their countries. Despite the arrogance or the indifference French and Germans show at times, the other members of the European Union can see the strong link between these two nations as an asset for Europe.
In 1963, forty years ago, President Charles de Gaulle of France and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer of Germany signed a 'Friendship Treaty' that was to put an end to the repeated wars between their countries. Nearly 60 years have gone by without a war in Western Europe whereas only 19 years had separated the two World Wars. Today, the prospect for 10 nations to enter the European Union, of which the Franco-German Treaty is the corner stone, is in itself a guarantee of peace.
One of the key sentences of the Treaty is the following: 'A strengthening of the co-operation between the two States represents a necessary step on the road of a united Europe, which is the aim of the two nations.' And in January 2003, the joint statement released for the 40th anniversary of the Treaty had this strong affirmation: 'France and Germany are linked within a common destiny. Our common future cannot be separated from the future of a deeper and larger European Union.' Even though the way this anniversary was celebrated reawakened fear of Franco-German hegemony in some people, it must be said that the two countries do not seek power but peace.
At a time when historic interest for the events that marked World War I is rising, it is important to underline the role of that friendship in the strengthening of Europe. The following facts, almost all chosen at random in the media of the last weeks, help assess what has happened in these last 40 years and could give ideas to leaders and citizens in tensions areas of today: Last month, at the European Summit in Brussels, French President Jacques Chirac was to be for 24 hours the official spokesman of Chancellor Schroeder, who could not attend the Summit that day. A simple and extraordinary initiative that did not go unnoticed.
At the end of October, the Mayor and the population of the village of St Julien-de-Crempse in the centre of France exhumed the bodies of 17 German soldiers who had been shot in reprisal, against all rules of warfare, by the village's inhabitants. On November 16, they were officially given a proper burial in the German military cemetery of Berneuil, in order to correct the wrongs committed during the conflict. 'Such acts of goodwill bring the Franco-German community together', said Marlène, from Cologne, daughter of corporal Johann Stenmans, whose remains now lie in Berneuil.
On November 11, the press published the obituary of Brigitte Sauzay, a former interpreter for several French Presidents. As Gerhard Schroeder's special adviser on Franco-German issues since 1998, she was in fact the first French citizen ever to be a member of the staff of a German Chancellor and she played an important part in bringing Chirac and Schroeder closer again, after a 'cold spell'.
On November 13, the leading French daily Le Monde carried a bold banner headline: 'Scenarios towards a Franco-German Union' and quoted Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin as wanting to promote 'initiatives allowing to attempt a closer union (...) between our citizens, our civil societies, our institutions.' Of course this move towards a Franco-German union is seen as an antidote to the weakening of the Union that is expected to happen as a result of its enlargement to 25 members, but is also, as Villepin says, 'the only historic challenge we cannot afford to miss.'
On the long and difficult path towards a united Europe - a process in which Initiatives of Change has played a part from the very beginning - new ideas, or a new impetus, have very often come from the French and the Germans. Their unity remains contagious. On October 22, Polish politician Bogdan Klich, deputy chair of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Polish Parliament and an observer at the European Parliament, spoke in Strasbourg of his concern with the bitter feelings among the populations on either side of the Polish-Ukrainian border and expressed the hope that the model of the Franco-German reconciliation in the post-war years could help in that situation.
Despite the arrogance or the indifference French and Germans show at times, despite the tensions generated by the joint opposition of France and Germany to the Iraq war, the other members of the European Union as well as the ten nations that are to join in May 2004 can see the strong link between these two nations as an asset for Europe.
NOTE: Individuals of many cultures, nationalities, religions, and beliefs are actively involved with Initiatives of Change. These commentaries represent the views of the writer and not necessarily those of Initiatives of Change as a whole.
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