(fw) He shaped German foreign policy over many years and, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, was instrumental in the process that led to Germany's reunification. Hans Dietrich Genscher, German Foreign Minister from 1974 to 1992, clearly counts among the architects of the new Europe. It is therefore not surprising that the ETH Zurich Auditorium Maximum was filled to capacity when the 78-year old statesman spoke last week on the theme "Europe – quo vadis?" at GSBA's 15th Zurich MBA Congress

Successful expansion

15 years after German reunification, Europe today finds itself at a critical juncture. Plans for a EU constitution were rejected by voters in France and the Netherlands, discussions on the EU budget are frazzling nerves and the Union only narrowly prevented a fiasco in its recent membership talks with Turkey. Nevertheless, Genscher pointed out that the EU had achieved much in recent years; he referred to its expansion to 25 member states with the inclusion of Eastern European countries in particular as a success. He was convinced that "a union which unites Poland, Germany and France contributes in no small measure to stability on the continent."

The question for Europe now is what its role should be in the coming decades. "This is a legitimate and necessary question," he said. Current developments were increasingly shaped by globalisation processes. An additional contributory factor was that no new world order had emerged following the collapse of the bipolar system of the Cold War.

Understanding for global changes

Although he did not explicitly say so, it was clear that Genscher is critical of the current US government's position that a new world order should be based on unipolarity. Undoubtedly, Americans were the strongest force in the world today, but the question was what strength actually meant. "Does strength simply mean more power and more privileges? Or does it mean carrying more responsibility?" Genscher is convinced that a multi-polar world order will emerge in the coming years. This is why America needed to remember Bill Clinton’s important postulate that the United States must use its strength to create a world in which Americans would feel comfortable even if they were not the strongest.

Former German foreign minister Hans Dietrich Genscher appeals for a close partnership between Europe and the USA large

Both Europeans and Americans, insisted Genscher, had to take more responsibility. "We Europeans in particular must become more involved. We have a vision, and through its implementation we have gained experiences that are very different from those of our ancestors." A decisive factor here was the close partnership with the US. The former foreign minister went on to warn critics of the US government that "the relationship between Europe and North America is not to be questioned.”

Opening up agricultural markets

Proceeding on the basis of a European model, what was needed now was a global policy of integration. Genscher granted that the means to achieve this were not functioning optimally. "The United Nations is in an awkward situation: those who complain that it is ineffective are also those who set obstacles in its path." Western negotiators within the world trade organisation, WTO, also had to be clear about what they wanted. "The liberalisation of markets cannot be implemented selectively," said the liberal politician. "As long as we are unwilling to open our agrarian markets, the integration of developing countries cannot succeed."