Emotions? There is nothing surprising about the fact that the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe awarded its Gold Medal of European Merit on 9 November to Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and Helmut Schmidt. In a few weeks time, all Europeans will have euro in their pockets so it was only to be expected that the two personalities who played such a vital role in the European currency should receive the recognition they deserve. The surprising thing was the rumpus the Lausanne event caused - 1600 people wanted to attend from across Europe, but also from the US and Canada; "laudatio" by Jacques Delors; speech by the President of Switzerland (who seized the opportunity to hint that he favoured Switzerland joining the EU in the future); torrential rhetoric with a punch from Mr Rieben, the President of the Foundation and friend of Jean Monnet; speech by the former President of France and the former German Chancellor. I can describe the event but how can one put into words the atmosphere at the Palais de Beaulieu during the ceremony? Or the emotions that came across in the speeches by the three personalities who contributed so much to the history of Europe and will be placed alongside Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer, Alcide De Gasperi and Paul-Henri Spaak in the history books? My chronicle will, alas, not be able to render the full flavour of the atmosphere.
Helmut Schmidt and nobility. What struck me first was Giscard d'Estaing, Helmut Schmidt and Jacques Delors' vision of the future. They calmly described what Europe might look like in 50 years time, well aware that they will not live to see it themselves and were therefore speaking for future generations. The next thing that struck me was their optimism and voluntarism - no signs of the "wasting disease" that infects so many of the generation that holds the reins of power today and seems to be lacking in vision, courage and determination. Giscard d'Estaing mentioned the striking obstacles that Helmut Schmidt had had to overcome in Germany to get the euro accepted (it was known as the ECU at the time): everyone in Germany opposed it - public and politicians, bankers (including the Federal Bank) and business leaders. Nobody wanted to lose the DM which was both a symbol and concrete proof of Germany's renaissance after the War that the population saw as both a guarantee and an article of pride. Why did Schmidt want a European currency? For the noblest reason of all - to prevent Germany ever being able to achieve too much power in Europe through its currency, put the overbearing vitality of the Germans in a straitjacket and rule out for the future any potential for other European countries to "fear" Germany again.
Sometimes they raise a smile. Addressing the Lausanne meeting, Helmut Schmidt presented the EU as the only example in the entire history of humanity of people voluntarily giving up part of their sovereignty to share it with others, not under pressure from a conquering power, while preserving their language(s) and national identity. He took us back to the origins of Europe, the people who had the extraordinary courage to remove the ownership of coal and steel from ECSC nations (coal and steel were the backbone of military power at the time) and give it to supranational institutions that were independent of governments. All this at a time when bitterness still ran very deep between European nations and the wounds of war were still bleedings. The newcomers to the European project sometimes make me smile when they discover (sometimes with astonishment) exactly how much courage and vision is needed and imagine in their innocence that they can reinvent it all and overcome the errors of their predecessors…
Alongside their common characteristics, each of the three great Europeans displayed his own character in Lausanne. Alongside his vision of the future, for Jacques Delors it is also a daily battle to safeguard the essential parts of today's Europe (see this chronicle in yesterday's issue). A very unusual humour shone through in the speech of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, wanting with the passing of the years to soften the outlines of his ever more lucid and firm vision. Helmut Schmidt made some sarcastic remarks about "nervous and self-proclaimed" financial analysts who cannot see beyond the euro/dollar exchange rate, saying that in his lifetime he had known a much higher, and a much lower, exchange rate against the dollar. The fact that most trade in the eurozone is no longer affected by the dollar's influence should not be overestimated, he added. And the European currency is so much more than that.
I am so very aware of not being able to do justice to that precious day.
(F.R.)