IN 2009, IT IS TWENTY YEARS since the Iron Curtain was cut. The caesura that this “triumph of the unexpected” (George Steiner) brought was much-celebrated by historians but the processes underlying the “gentle”, “velvet”, even “”singing” revolutions as well as the consequences they had for the new Europe have not really sunk in with the general public yet. However, the new Europe is not conceivable without the events that preceded—and followed—the felicitous year of 1989.
For Austria, this poses a special challenge. Early on, in 1956 and ’68 already, Austria started building bridges—political, diplomatic, and human—to the “other” Europe. In the period of the Cold War, Austria was a border country and, at the same time, a place of encounter and of (frequently cultural) border crossings, helping people and gaining international reputation.
The end of the Iron Curtain has since provided the basis for Austria’s strong position in Central and South-Eastern Europe. And this de facto paved the way for the Austrian EU membership.
Due to its history and geography, Austria has much benefited from the developments of the past 20 years. The end of the Cold War, the fall of the Iron Curtain, and membership in the European Union have given new significance to the Central European and Danubian region. Newly gained liberties have led to improved chances in life; a common European model of living became a realistic perspective for the old and new neighbors.
For the 20th anniversary of this great European success, Austria has launched an initiative to raise awareness of that historic change, of what has been achieved since and of the potentials of the new Europe together with young people but also with those who contributed to making that change possible, particularly in our Central-European neighbor states:
- What were the factors that led to this fundamental change?
- What can we learn from the events of 1989 and the years before for our present and future?
- How has the world changed since?
- How do people in Western and Eastern Europe see this change?
- How do they see the positive effects—the European reunification, the opening of the borders?
- How do they see some of the negative effects—the wars in former Yugoslavia, the issues of migration anf of fighting cross-border organized crime?
- In how far have the events transformed the West itself, and is it really as ‘golden’ as it thinks?
And how can we get to the point when the sentence will hold true that “there is no challenge too great for a world that is united?”
The Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs invites to discuss these and other issues in the comings months in a broad series of events on the subject of “1989–2009: Forward Into a New Europe” and to develop new impulses and ideas. For we all are our own history and future. And foreign policy as an essential link between individuals and nationals is something that concerns everyone.
A society has as much future as it has strength of remembrance. With the “Setting Out for a New Europe” initiative, we propose that we Austrians keep alive for ourselves and for coming generations what was achieved twenty years ago against all odds and expectations: where there was a dead border before, a new common Europe is now gaining shape.