Twenty-five years on from the fall of the Berlin Wall there is much to celebrate in the achievements of the united Germany. A generation of change finds a peaceable, prosperous and confident power at Europe’s heart , enjoying good relations with its neighbours and playing a leading role in the continent’s affairs. These achievements outweigh the reservations expressed by critics inside and outside Germany who say it has not lived up to expectations or reached its full potential within the EU.
Germany itself bore the costs of unifying two such very different political and economic systems. Despite the euphoria that greeted the collapse of the wall in East Germany and the enthusiastic assertion of liberal freedoms to travel, associate, speak and vote, the subsequent imposition of new market relations led to a brutal clearing out of industry, the takeover of large swathes of its economy by powerful western companies and a less secure provision of employment, childcare and social solidarity. Polls of east Germans register these balances, but show that twice as many feel they are winners than losers from unification. It will take longer for a full human and national unity to be forged, but it is well under way.
It matters hugely that Germany’s leaders at the time steered the unification towards a European path. Chancellor Helmut Kohl was principally responsible – at every stage in 1989-90 he was prepared to match the elements of unification with equivalent moves at EC level to bind Germany closer to its partners politically and economically. This overcame the hesitations of French and British leaders who themselves had memories of the second World War and feared unification would re-empower Germany outside the bounds of the postwar settlement. Crucially, that was avoided, as German unification led on to the swift collapse of other communist regimes and two years later to the disintegration of the Soviet Union. That these momentous transitions occurred peacefully – Yugoslavia excepted – is a great tribute to that generation of citizens and leaders.
The 1992 Maastricht Treaty providing for monetary and potential political union was the central register of this new geopolitical balance. It set the terms for the creation of the euro and prepared the ground for absorbing the post-communist states into the EU 12 years later. The treaty’s limitations – most notably its lack of fiscal and economic means to manage a single currency zone – were cruelly exposed by the euro zone crisis over the past four years. Tackling them sets the current EU agenda .
Germany’s potential leadership role is underscored in this debate. Its economic and political power allows it set the terms and rules for others to follow. But too often these are set in its own image and interests and not for the wider whole. Meeting this challenge is the central task for the next generation of Germans.