November 25, 2011
In a SPIEGEL interview, Oxford historian Timothy Garton Ash discusses the current crisis in the EU and the apparent lack of political passion for the project in the Merkel-Sarkozy generation. The author also explains why he believes young Europeans will start to mobilize if they fear the freedoms of their "easyJet Europe" are under threat.
SPIEGEL: Professor Garton Ash, let's assume you are a doctor and Europe is your patient. What's your diagnosis?
Garton Ash: Europe is a woman, now middle-aged, who has already had a number of heart attacks and is currently experiencing the biggest health crisis of her life, but one that need not be fatal.
SPIEGEL: What's making Europe sick?
Garton Ash: The reason the crisis can have such a strong effect is that the big engines of the European project are no longer running. I'm talking about the passionately engaged politicians with their personal memories of the war, the occupation, the dictatorship, the Holocaust and the Soviet threat. That's why they promoted the project. (United States President) Barack Obama means well, but he is not as interested in and committed to Europe as earlier American presidents were. Germany was a major engine of the European unification process for 40 years, but it isn't anymore. Add to that the crisis of a poorly conceived monetary union.
SPIEGEL: But one can hardly reproach the generation of Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy for not having the same background as people like (former German Chancellor Helmut) Kohl and (former French President François) Mitterrand.
Garton Ash: You can't blame them, but it is a fact. I had always hoped that 1989 would provide a new historic impetus. Since then, we have seen a generation of millions who have experienced dictatorships firsthand. Angela Merkel is part of that generation and yet it has been of little consequence to her.
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