Lessons from History: Europe and the fall of the Berlin Wall

How Europe can keep capitalising on the Berlin Wall’s positive legacy

European Union integration has advanced significantly over the last 30 years, but the bloc’s milestones also remind us how far we have to go. This key conclusion emerged during ‘Europe and the fall of the Berlin Wall’, the third debate in the ‘Lessons from history’ series, organised in Brussels by Friends of Europe on 13 November 2019. With guidance from three experts who witnessed this momentous event, the debate explored lessons learned and the international response.

“The Wall’s demise in November 1989 led to German reunification, heralded the Cold War’s end and suggested Western democracy was all-powerful,” said the moderator Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow, Friends of Europe and former Deputy Assistant Secretary-General at NATO. Yet euphoria about a positive new world faded, as people grasped the huge challenge of uniting Europe both politically and economically. Shea asked panellists to consider the legacy of the Wall’s fall, including Europe’s progress and mistakes, plus the remaining challenges of authoritarianism worldwide.

Everyone agreed that civil society played a major role in bringing down the Berlin Wall. “Its fall stemmed from unpredictable human agency. People on both sides made choices – including courageous demonstrations in East Berlin and other Central and Eastern European countries,” said Stefanie Babst, Head of the Strategic Analysis Capability in the Emerging Security Challenges Division (ESCD) at NATO. She and fellow panellists argued this event originated in the USSR’s liberal reforms two years earlier, ultimately bankrupting the Soviet state.

A minor or major milestone?

Shea highlighted Europe’s indulgence in a “cult of commemorations”, among them the D-Day landings. He wondered if the 30^th anniversary of the fall of the Wall usefully advances democracy or empowers European adversaries, given China’s crackdown this year on protests in Hong Kong. “The centrifugal forces of Berlin opened the doors of opportunity,” replied Jackson Janes, Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund and Professor Emeritus of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He said that key European milestones, like the Wall’s fall, provide pointers on how and where our leaders should push for further democratic change.

Panellists welcomed the EU’s expansion from 12 to 28 Member States in the years since 1989. Moreover, Germany is a thriving and democratic part of the EU, despite some nations’ initial fears about German reunification. “My home nation Poland, a former member of the Communist bloc like East Germany, also enjoyed a peaceful transition to democracy and has turned out well since joining the EU,” said Radosław Sikorski MEP, Member of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Subcommittee on Security and Defence, and acting Chair of the Delegation for relations with the United States.

Beware international blindspots

Despite this optimism, Sikorski warned that the EU is not working well as a confederation. His solutions included “fixing capitalism” in the bloc, by retrieving 30 trillion euro hidden in offshore accounts, and getting France and Germany to strike a grand bargain. “Europe must lead the way and not become a theme park or just a subcontractor of the United States or China,” he added.

Panellists said that reunifying German could take another generation, acknowledging that high unemployment and the rise of populism in former areas of East Germany were partly due to slow progress in completing that process. When asked to reflect on new technologies and social media, and if the Berlin Wall still stood today, panellists were unsure if civil society in its aspirations for change would be helped or hindered.

What should the EU focus on now, as the Berlin Wall slips further into the rear-view mirror? “Let’s not jeopardise the last 30 years’ achievements,” concluded Jackson Janes. “Europe and its Transatlantic partners must restore trust in governance, rediscover their values and rejuvenate their democracies.”