Europe must defend ‘democracy, freedom’

Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday urged Europe to defend democracy and freedom as Germany marked 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, warning that such gains must not be taken for granted.

At a solemn ceremony in a church standing on the former “death strip” that divided East and West, Merkel said the Berlin Wall reminds “us that we have to do our part for freedom and democracy”.

“The values upon with Europe is founded... they are anything but self-evident. And they must always be lived out and defended anew,” she told guests from across the continent.

On November 9, 1989, East German border guards, overwhelmed by large crowds, threw open the gates to West Berlin, allowing free passage for the first time since the Berlin Wall was built.

The momentous event would end up bringing the communist regime crashing down, and led to German reunification a year later.

But the euphoria for liberal democracy that characterised the epochal event then has somewhat dissipated three decades on, as the Western alliance that helped secure those achievements is riddled with divisions.

Cracks have appeared within the European Union as former eastern bloc countries like Hungary or Poland are accused by Brussels of challenging the rule of law.

Domestically, Germany is also struggling with a resurgent far-right, which has gained a strong foothold in its former communist states by championing a nationalist and anti-immigration message.

Merkel said the past must serve as a lesson, noting that the collapse of the Berlin Wall is “history and teaches us that no wall that keeps people out and limits freedom is so high or so wide that it cannot be broken through.”