It is a great honour to be here today, and really a pleasure for me to congratulate you on the 100th anniversary of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. I am among friends, among social democrats, among fellow Europeans.
The history of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung goes back to one of the most progressive democracies, one of the most advanced republics, founded here in Germany in 1918. A republic to a great extent created by Social Democrats, reflecting their values: social justice, women’s suffrage, public education, social welfare, rule of law, and humanism.
Those Social Democratic values survived the most ruthless onslaught under Fascism and, after World War Two, found a new vigour. They gained a new lease of life in the Bad Godesberg Congress in 1959, which was a source of inspiration for Social Democrats all over the world. For this, the network of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung played an essential role. It promoted creative reflections and the progressive programmatic consolidation through its tireless internationalist engagement.
Allow me to speak a little about the experience of the country I know best. The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung was decisive in Portugal’s rise from a dictatorship that lasted 48 years to a stable democracy, a dynamic economy, a robust welfare state and a full member of the European Union. One year before the democratic revolution in 1973, the Portuguese Socialist Party was founded in exile here in Germany, in the premises of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, in Bad Münstereifel.
This support by the Stiftung and the personal engagement of Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt were decisive during the revolutionary process, to defeat totalitarian forces and to ensure the triumph of Democracy, under the leadership of the Socialist Party and Mário Soares. We will never forget your friendship and support.
50 years later, in 2023, I had the honour to visit Bad Münstereifel together with Martin Schulz and Lars Klingbeil and the surviving founders of the Portuguese Socialist Party, to pay tribute to those who were part of that history. And Olaf Scholz was the guest honour of the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Party, which took place in Lisbon.
This internationalist engagement of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung was not only important for Portugal. It had a global reach. Let us not forget that the Portuguese transition to democracy was the first in the third wave of democratization. It reached also Greece and Spain, Latin America and, finally in the 90s, Eastern Europe at the beginning of the 1990s.
All places where the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung sustained democracy, strengthened partnerships, supported trade unions, political parties and youth organisations, by promoting scholarships and public policy development. Me too, I am a little bit the product of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. Not just you, Lars.
We know well the great value of this foundation. Of its network. Of its commitment. Of its 100 years of work. Your impact changed the course of History. I believe it will continue to do so. Social democratic values are as relevant for the present as they were one hundred years ago. Because our democracies are under threat.
War has dramatically returned as a geopolitical tool to advance national interests, to redraw borders, to violate international law. To impose an imperial revival by force. Protectionism and economic coercion are being used to bully others, which can only result in more inflation. Tariffs are taxes imposed on consumers and companies. Massive disinformation is threatening our democratic processes.
On top of this, new technologies are disrupting the public space, increasingly controlled by a new class of businessmen, richer than most of the nations in the world, with tremendous economic and political power. Claiming that freedom of speech has been restricted, when in reality they are building monopolies, interfering in editorial lines, pushing their content more than others. Pursuing their private interests and putting their perverse business logic over the common good. Freedom of speech has been hijacked by a non-elected oligarchy acting in the name of freedom of speech.
As Alexander Hamilton reminds us: “Give all power to the few, and they will oppress the many.” So, the danger lies not just outside, but also within our democracies. Which will die in darkness if we remain passive. Populism is our main adversary. And populism is fed by inequalities, uncertainty and fear.
And that is why, dear friends, social democracy is still so important today. We must respond to the threats to our democracies by providing citizens with reassurance and confidence in the future. Solidarity is the glue that holds our societies together. In good times and bad times. During Covid, during the financial crisis, during high inflation. During war. When no one is left behind. When everyone has a safety network provided by a welfare state. That makes us all stronger and that makes society just. When the good side of humanity comes out to stand together against injustice. Against selfishness. Against hardship. Reinforcing our sense of community, of support to each other, of kindness and empathy. When we remember that we all belong to a society, to a European common home, to a human community, and that we are not just individuals by ourselves.
Societies are fragmenting because some want to pit us against each other – and solidarity sometimes seems like a relic of the past. But solidarity is needed more than ever, not less. Empathy, social democracy is the political recipe in fragmenting societies.
Jean Monnet, a founding father of our European Union, once said: “We don’t unite states, but we unite people.” Today’s European Union is finding new ways to achieve what have always been the main purposes of the European project: peace, prosperity and progress.
Starting with peace, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has demonstrated the urgency of building the Europe of Defence. Europe has not forgotten the lessons of its own history of war and military aggression. Since 2022 those same lessons have acquired a renewed relevance. A great European power wants to redraw the borders of a neighbouring country, violate its national sovereignty, even deny its right to exist.
How should Europe react? How can we work towards peace when we are facing war?
First, Europe must continue to support Ukraine, because Ukraine’s security is Europe’s security. This is not a slogan. If Russia considers that Ukraine’s borders are just a line on a map, why should it respect any other country’s borders? By supporting Ukraine we are supporting the United Nations Charter, the international rules-based order, in Europe and beyond. By supporting Ukraine we are creating the conditions for a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in Ukraine. And in Europe.
Second, Europe must acquire the means to defend itself against military aggression. That means we need to invest more in defence. But we must do so in a way that is truly European, focussing especially on those capabilities that are necessary for our collective security, like air and missile defence and electronic warfare. We must do so in a collaborative way, through aggregation of demand, harmonisation of requirements and joint procurement with the aim of reducing overall costs, ensuring standardisation and interoperability.
Third, Europe must become more sovereign, more responsible for its own defence and more able to deal autonomously with immediate and future challenges. During COVID we learned that we were dependent on the goodwill of others for our masks, our medication, our vaccines. We are now learning that same lesson when it comes to defence sector. That means that we need to reinforce our own defence industry.
Which brings me to the second purpose of the European project – prosperity. Security and prosperity are two sides of the same coin. Investing in European defence also means investing in innovation, in our industries, in jobs for our citizens. At the same time, Europe needs a strong, competitive economy to defend its interests in the challenging global context.
When it comes to European prosperity, we have reasons to be proud of our achievements so far. At the same time, European citizens want Europe to remain competitive, they want well-paid jobs to stay in Europe, they want our innovative industries to thrive. Indeed, there is a growing anxiety in Europe about falling behind in the global competition.
And the European Union is responding to those challenges, which were well described in the Letta and Draghi reports. But we have moved from diagnosis to action. We are doing so by focussing on simplification, to ensure that national and European rules and regulations do not create an excessive administrative burden for citizens and companies. We are doing so by protecting European citizens and companies against high energy costs, and by working towards a genuine Energy Union. Europe’s energy challenges are structural – and so, too, must be the solutions. Those solutions must ensure that Europe becomes more autonomous and more efficient. By producing more its own energy and by making the geopolitical investment in decarbonization. And by investing in more efficient grids and interconnections, to create a truly European energy market.
We are also acting by increasing public and private investment. European public investment through the European Recovery and Resilience Facility, for example; private investment through the creation of a Savings and Investment Union – to mobilize the savings of European citizens and channel them to start-ups and Mittelstand.
In all of these efforts, we are guided by the overarching goals of climate and social sustainability. Because that is the third purpose of the European project – progress. Without social and environmental progress, economic growth alone can lead to inequality, to poverty and to injustice.
Europe’s social market economy remains the best model, the model we need to defend. And the objectives of the European Green Deal, of the climate transition, are generational imperatives. The European Union cannot and will not abandon them.
But let me be clear: if we want to make sure our societies continue supporting the ambitious objectives of the European Green Deal, we must simplify rules and regulations. Simplification is not a liberal solution, it is the smart solution. This is perhaps the best example of the relevance of Social Democracy today: making sure the double digital and climate transitions leave no one behind. We need a fair transition aiming at sustainability, as well as at the competitiveness of companies, so they can preserve quality jobs and continue to produce affordable cars for the ordinary consumer.
This is, I believe, the main task ahead of European progressives: to find new ways to defend timeless values, values that have never lost their relevance since the days of Friedrich Ebert.
And let me add something: if you really heard from the people, the citizens in the market places, in the streets, in the factories, in fact the people are very concerned with the challenges of the future. And if you want to fight the populism, we need to fight the fear in our societies, providing reinsurance and confidence in our ability to manage for the future. And this is key if you want to preserve the social democracy in the future.
German and European Social Democrats have faced war, imperialism, authoritarianism, injustice and social inequality before. Now, joining forces with other progressive and democratic forces, they are facing them again. Just as European democracies emerged stronger from the trials of the 20th century, so too will the European Union be reinforced by the way we are responding to today’s challenges. By building peace, prosperity and progress for all European citizens. Again, leaving no one behind.
And we need Germany at the core of that project. With its determined investment in our common defence. With its huge economic and innovative potential. With its commitment to Europe’s global outreach. And, above all, with the ability of its democratic political forces to work together for a common good. In the European spirit.
We all owe Olaf Scholz our gratitude for his leadership and for his courage to stand for what is right in the right moment. When he launched the Zeitenwende. When he led a historical effort to decouple Germany’s and Europe’s energy ties from Russia. In record time. As a force for unity at the European Council. During unprecedented challenges. A force for unity which I witnessed as his colleague and now as President of the European Council. And I am sure that history reserves to him a fair place in historical records. Yes, it is true, politics is not always fair, but history is fairer than politics.
Today, that unity is more important than ever. Without it, we are weaker. With it, we have everything in our hands. We have the experience of overcoming crisis after crisis. Too much of a crisis. Each time, when some expect us to come out weaker, we come out stronger. We have the strength and the power. 450 million Europeans behind us. Three times the Russian population, 100 million more than the US. One of the biggest markets in the world. A leading economic and trade global power. With a strong common currency. With a wide network of strategic partners on all continents.
So, in this defining moment we are living today, we have all it takes to succeed. When multilateralism is under enormous pressure, and the rules-based international order, too. When Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has entered its third year. And it is clear that Russia’s behaviour is a threat to all of us.
We need to approach today’s world in a more confident spirit. And guided by the values that are at the heart of this Stiftung. Values that guide you today.
And let me recall what Friedrich Ebert once said: “We have led democracy to victory, we have led the Republic to victory and we guarantee it today. It is a success which must be present in our minds every day and every hour.”
This remains as valid today as in the past. For a better future for Germany. For a confident Europe. We need to remember always that it’s a success. Every day and every hour.
Congratulations once again, dear friends. Herzlichen Glückwunsch, liebe Freunde.
Thank you. Vielen Dank.