Europe's problems, according to President Emeritus Guide de Marco, are of "a temporary nature, requiring more time for reflection". He was speaking on Friday in Mainz, Germany, at a ceremony in which he was conferred the Gold Medal of the Stresemann Society.
"I believe that the reflection period will serve to show us further the need of unity while developing the subsidiarity factor," he observed. Professor de Marco is the 11th title holder of the Stresemann Gold Medal, which is granted to persons who have distinguished themselves in the field of European unity, or the securing of peace and human rights.
The society seeks to perpetuate the memory of Gustav Stresemann, who Professor de Marco said had the "political courage to fight for the future and not fight tomorrow the battles of yesterday".
In his address, Professor de Marco recalled his childhood days living in Malta during World War II. He paid tribute to Stresemann, who died in 1929, for realising that "European Nationalisms were leading to imperialist approaches in bringing contending nations, war and disaster".
Stresemann, together with Aristide Briand, "was among the very first to see what was obvious and yet people could not see the need of a Franco-German entant cordial". Professor de Marco traced the events that followed the "Spring of the Weimar Republic" to the "disastrous Winter" for Europe when Adolf Hitler took power in Germany, "not so much as a lesson in history as a suffering of missed opportunities".
The spring for Germany and Europe came in a personality of the Stresemann generation, Conrad Adenauer, who "realised what Stresemann before had realised, that Franco-German friendship was basic and fundamental to peace in Europe," he said, adding:
"I had the privilege to be President of the United Nations General Assembly on the day that Germany was once again united. On the eve of unification, Herr (Hans-Dietrich) Genscher, then Foreign Minister, came to see me at my office in New York and told me... 'The Germany that will be born tomorrow will be one believing in a European Germany, not in a German Europe.'
"I only realised later that he was repeating what decades before, in the difficult years of the Thirties, Thomas Mann had said and I think that today we are witnessing the political relevance of a European Germany.
"Some may say that following the non-approval of the European Constitution in France and in Holland, Europe is at a standstill, others consider the crisis in Europe, as well as in the United Nations, as a crisis in multilateralism.
"The relevance of the United Nations is beyond discussion. This is also why Gustav Stresemann strongly believed in the League of Nations. But... the United Nations is as relevant as its component nations want it to be. I do not want to sound alarmist, but may I say that the world needs more United Nations and not less United Nations."
Finally, Professor de Marco reflected on the tenth anniversary of the start of the Barcelona Process and the importance of the Mediterranean to Europe. "In this context, my country has always believed that its membership of the European Union serves, not as a frontier with the Mediterranean world, but as a bridge between Europe and the Mediterranean," he said.
His concluding remark related to the importance of stability, observing: "For Europe as a Union to be more relevant in international affairs, it has to evolve further its common, foreign and security policy."
Professor de Marco drew a parallel quoting Seneca that "we were born to live together and our community is like an arch, which holds precisely because the stones prevent each other from falling".
"To do so," he added, "we need that stability architecture that was shared by the vision of Gustav Stresemann, a vision we all here have inherited and believe that it is our common heritage for peace and justice. These are the perennial frontiers of statesmanship."
The ceremony, which was held in the State Chancery, saw the participation of Minister President of Rhineland-Westphalia Kurt Beck. Dr Egon Klepsch, former President of the European Parliament and a friend of Professor de Marco for many years, made a statement explaining the contribution of Professor de Marco to politics, in particular his efforts to see Malta as a member of the European Union, and his achievements as President of the UN General Assembly.
He also drew a parallel between Stresemann's and Professor de Marco's efforts for stability in their respective countries in difficult times. Also present for the ceremony was Malta's Ambassador to Berlin, William Spiteri.
(The full address of Professor de Marco is available at http://www.timesofmalta.com/misc/demarco_speech.htm )