Podcast “We are history” on the EU: The largest peace project in history

Creation and rise of the EU
The largest peace project in history

April 29, 2022, 4:00 p.m

The war in Ukraine is a painful reminder that the members of the EU also fought each other until a few decades ago. In the new episode “We are history” we look at the hour of birth and the future of the EU and discuss Germany’s role.

When Gustav Stresemann and Aristide Briand received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926 for their policy of understanding between Germany and France, the world – looking back – found itself between the two greatest catastrophes of the 20th century. Because despite all the peace efforts of the German Chancellor and the French Prime Minister in the 1920s, the Second World War broke out on September 1, 1939, at the end of which it was clear once and for all that nothing like this should ever happen again.

Stresemann and Briand can thus be described as the godfathers of the European idea. Just like British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who first spoke of the United States of Europe in his “Speech to Academic Youth” in 1946. A pointer to what was to follow: Six years later, the European Coal and Steel Community was founded. The EU was born when six nations pooled the means of production they considered indispensable. The fact that Germany was one of the founding members seven years after the end of World War II was the first step towards rehabilitation.

European transformation

However, out of pure charity, the Federal Republic was not included in the EGKS, also known as the “Montanunion”. It needed personalities like Robert Schuman or Jean Monnet – people who “symbolize political unity and who want to develop Europe” like it Linn Sellethe President of the European Movement Germany, expresses in the ntv podcast “We are history”.

At that time, what was to be promoted in Germany was what had always been the mantra of the European idea after the Second World War: the democratic transformation in accordance with the rule of law. In the 1970s, Spain and Portugal were joined by former dictatorships. The eastward expansion of the EU in the 2000s was also intended to support this maxim on the continent.

But the EU is not a pure success story, as the split between the northern and southern member states during the Greek crisis should make the world painfully aware. The German economic strength is also a point of contention in the alliance of states. Is that why former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt spoke of “small Europe” in 2011?

Once in Europe – there and back. In the new episode of the ntv podcast “We are history”.