New German president vows to help weaker E.U member states

Germany on Friday swore in new president Joachim Gauck, who warned the government that it had a historical obligation to help Europe’s weakest members as they struggle to stay financially afloat.

Gauck, the first head of state from the former communist east, delivered the impassioned appeal to members of parliament and Chancellor Angela Merkel in the light-flooded chamber of the Reichstag parliament building. “We must keep
saying yes to Europe,” said Gauck, who was elected president by a special assembly with an overwhelming majority on Sunday.

“Particularly in times of crisis, the tendency to retreat to the level of the nation state is very common. European unity is however impossible without the life’s blood of solidarity. Particularly in the crisis, we must dare to
have more Europe.”Gauck, 72, said that languishing under the Nazi and then the communist dictatorships had made the notion of a united Europe living in peace, freedom and prosperity a driving force of his political awakening.

“Europe was the promised land for my generation,” he said. “For my grandchildren, Europe has long been part of their day-to-day reality, with freedom across borders and the opportunities and concerns of an open society. This reality
is an achievement, not only for my grandchildren.”

Germany, as the rescue-fund paymaster for Europe’s stricken member states, has come under pressure throughout the sovereign debt crisis to boost its contributions to the bailouts in the face of Merkel’s resistance. The turmoil
has also exposed old rifts, with protesters on the streets of Athens branding Merkel a “Nazi” for her hardline stance.

Gauck, a Lutheran pastor and former East German democracy activist, said he would make the integration of Germany’s large immigrant population and the struggle against the far right priorities of his presidency. In a rousing passage
of the 23-minute inaugural speech, Gauck said Germany would stand fast in the fight against extremists.

“To the right-wing extremist haters of democracy, we say: your hatred will only spur us on,” he thundered, calling united Germany “the land of the democratic miracle”. “We will not leave our country in the lurch. We will not give
you the gift of our fear. You will be history and our democracy will live.”

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Posted by Hamza Jahangir on Mar 23 2012. Filed under Latest News, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry