There
are so many good lines and quotes in this selection that this newsletter is
longer than usual – and this introduction shorter than usual.
Congratulations
to all the speechwriters behind these speeches, many of whom read this
newsletter every month. Congratulations and thank you.
You
will find the full version of the newsletter – and much more – on: logospathosethos.eu
Face the facts
Europe woke up on 24 June 2016 with a
sense of disbelief. We could hardly believe that the British people had
decided, in a sovereign vote, to put an end to 44 years of common history. We
found it hard to grasp, a few months later, that Transatlantic relations might
change as a result of the election of Donald Trump. And of course, following
each terrorist attack we found it hard to believe that our countries' children
could inflict irreparable harm on our soil.
Put the
spotlight on hope – highlighted with repetition
But on each
occasion, this sense of shock led to a common response.
Very quickly,
following the British referendum, Europeans expressed their desire to continue
to move forward together.
Very quickly,
following the election of Mr Trump, the Union spoke out strongly to reaffirm
its commitment to multilateralism and the fight against climate change.
Very quickly,
following each of the attacks on our soil, in Paris, Brussels, Nice, London,
Manchester, Berlin, Stockholm and Barcelona, we saw a display of solidarity
between the peoples of Europe and a determination to fight terrorism side by
side.
Read the full speech here: Michel Barnier, "Obbligati a crescere – l'Europa dopo Brexit", 9 November 2017
Show vision and leadership
Here is the proof that the things that unite
us – our common values, our desire to be together and the benefits of being
together – are stronger than anything that might divide us.
Bring clarity
We need to continue on
this path without losing sight of the essential thing: the future of the Union,
which is much more important than Brexit.
Contrast the general negativity … – strengthened
by more repetition –
The general
mood was one of pessimism.
They told us that the Union would be divided.
They predicted victories for the populists in the Netherlands, France, Austria.
They told us that other European countries would definitely follow the British
example.
… with a positive
outcome
Almost a year and a half later none of that
has happened.
Be memorable with counterintuitivenss
Paradoxically, Brexit has
also united the 27.
Clarify the choices at stake
These choices
have consequences.
- It is not possible to be half in and half
out of the single market.
- It is not possible to end the free movement
of persons, while retaining the free movement of goods, services or capital by
means of a generalised system of equivalences.
- It is not possible to leave the single
market and continue to set the rules.
- It is not possible to leave the customs
union but expect to enjoy frictionless trade with the EU.
And :
We want a united, not a
uniform Europe.
And :
The United Kingdom has
chosen to leave the European Union. Will it also want to distance itself from
the European model? That is another matter.
Repetition
There is no reason – and
I repeat, no reason – why the single market should be weakened when a Member
State leaves.
Whom do you quote – I?
Let us remember what
Barack Obama said to the American people: ‘We are the ones we have been waiting
for.' ‘Siamo quelli che stiamo aspettando'.
Read the full
speech here: Michel Barnier, "Obbligati a crescere
– l'Europa dopo Brexit", 9 November 2017
Whom do you quote – II?
Salamanca est
indissociable de son université, université à réputation mondiale. Et son
université est indissociable de la liberté intellectuelle, de ce pouvoir, qui
est le vrai pouvoir, de dire non, non aux divisions, non au rejet de l'autre,
non aux dictatures, qui fut exprimé, en ces lieux mêmes, avec tant d'éloquence
et de courage par l'un de ses plus célèbres recteurs, l'auteur du Sentiment
tragique de la vie, Miguel de Unamuno qui, 50 ans avant l'adhésion de l'Espagne
à l'Union européenne, y a défendu la force de la raison et du droit dans un
appel à l'unité de l'Espagne.
So much eloquence … Here’s a quote from this speech
by Miguel de Unamuno on 12 October 1936.
If you’re about to jump to the English translation
below, just read the first sentence in the original Spanish or French
translation as the music gets lost into translation.
Venceréis pero no
convenceréis
Vous vaincrez mais vous
ne convaincrez pas.
French and English below:
Venceréis pero no
convenceréis. Venceréis porque tenéis sobrada fuerza bruta, pero no
convenceréis porque convencer significa persuadir. Y para persuadir necesitáis
algo que os falta en esta lucha, razón y derecho.
English below:
Vous vaincrez mais vous
ne convaincrez pas. Vous vaincrez parce que vous possédez une surabondance de
force brutale, vous ne convaincrez pas parce que convaincre signifie persuader.
Et pour persuader il vous faudrait avoir ce qui vous manque: la raison et le
droit dans votre combat.
You will win, but you
will not convince. You will win, because you possess more than enough brute
force, but you will not convince, because to convince means to persuade. And in
order to persuade you would need what you lack — reason and right in the
struggle.
Read the full
speech here: Miguel de Unamuno, 12 October 1936
Whom do you quote – III?
If there are science-fiction lovers
among you here today, you might be familiar with the author Ray Bradbury. He
wrote the famous sci-fi novel "Fahrenheit 451" (…) I will just give
you a small excerpt. He said:
So it is finally with the robots you say
you fear. Why fear something? Why not create with it? I am not afraid of
robots, I am afraid of people…Any machine, any robot, is the sum total of the
way we use it.
Read the full
speech here: Carlos Moedas, Media on
the age of artificial intelligence, 21 November 2017
Surprise your audience with a strong opening :
When I heard that there was going to be a Frans Timmermans lecture - and
I was going to be the first one to deliver it – I called my wife and I said:
"I'm just checking, am I dead?"...
"No! You're still alive."
Okay then, second question: "Have I been retired and nobody told
me?"...
"No! You're still there."
Then there must be something very special to have a lecture named after
me, already now.
Read the full
speech here: Frans Timmermans, Inaugural Frans
Timmermans Lecture, Radboud University Nijmegen, 24 November 2017
(English below)
Vor zwei Jahren, noch
in meiner Zeit als deutscher Außenminister, las ich in einer unserer
Tageszeitungen ein beeindruckendes Interview. Ein Mann, Mitte 50,
Elektroingenieur aus der Slowakei, berichtete über seinen Anfang der 1990er
Jahre gescheiterten Versuch, in den Vereinigten Staaten Fuß zu fassen. Er hatte
sich bei hunderten von Firmen beworben, erfolglos, sich mit Gelegenheitsjobs
über Wasser gehalten, in einer winzigen Wohnung mit anderen, Landsleuten und
Schicksalsgenossen gelebt und seine Ersparnisse aufgebraucht. Schließlich gab
er auf. "Niemand wollte einen Elektroingenieur aus dem ehemaligen
Ostblock." Er ging zurück in seine Heimat.
Hier könnte die
Erzählung enden. Doch in einem fast beiläufigen Nachsatz erfahren wir, der Mann
sei zwar mittellos, aber mit der Lust, sich als Unternehmer zu versuchen, aus
den USA zurückgekehrt. Der letzte Satz dieser Kurzbiografie lautete,
in Ihren eigenen Worten, Herr Präsident: "In der Heimat war ich dann
sehr erfolgreich, habe mich später karitativen Dingen gewidmet und bin heute
Präsident. Eine seltsame Karriere."
Verehrter Herr
Präsident, lieber Andrej Kiska, ich würde sagen, diese Karriere, Ihre Karriere
ist vor allem eine große Lebensleistung.
Lesen Sie die
Rede auf Deutsch: Franck-Walter Steinmeier, First official
visit to the Slovak Republic, 17 November 2017
Two years ago, when I was
still Germany’s Foreign Minister, I read an impressive interview in one of our
daily newspapers. A man, in his mid-fifties, an electrical engineer from
Slovakia, talked about his failed attempt to settle in the United States in the
early 1990s. He had applied to hundreds of companies, but to no avail. He had
kept his head above water with casual labour, shared a tiny apartment with
fellow countrymen suffering a similar fate, and had used up his savings. In the
end, he gave up. "No one wanted an electrical engineer from the
former Eastern bloc", he surmised. He returned to his home country.
The story might well end
here. However, then we discover, almost in passing, that while he may have been
penniless, he returned from the US with the desire to set up shop as an entrepreneur.
Mr President, the last sentence of this short biography is – in your own words
– as follows: "Back home, I was very successful.
Later on, I devoted my energy to charitable projects and now I’m President. A
curious career."
Mr President, Andrej Kiska, I would say that this career, your
career, is, above all, a great lifetime achievement.
Read the full
speech here: Franck-Walter Steinmeier, First official
visit to the Slovak Republic, 17 November 2017
The power
of epideitic speeches :
99th
anniversary of the end of the First World War
(English below)
Heute erinnern wir,
Franzosen und Deutsche gemeinsam, an das, was hier geschah. Wir erinnern, weil
jede Generation für sich aufs Neue erlernen muss, die Idee der Nation von der
Ideologie des Nationalismus zu unterscheiden. Wir erinnern, weil wir nie wieder
den Irrweg beschreiten wollen, auf den der Nationalismus führt: zur Repression
nach innen und zur Aggression nach außen.
Wir brauchen die
Erinnerung, als Mahnmal, als Gedenkstätte, als Museum – aber das allein wird
nicht ausreichen. Wenn wir der Soldaten gedenken, die hier ruhen, wenn wir ihr
Andenken ehren, dann tun wir das, weil ihr Sterben uns nicht ruhen lassen darf.
Das wird 100 Jahre nach dem Geschehen – wenn die letzten Zeitzeugen verstorben
sind und junge Menschen fragen: ‚Was hat das eigentlich mit mir zu tun?‘ –
nicht einfacher. Aber es ist deshalb keinen Deut weniger wichtig. (…)
Europa! Dieses Europa, die in Frieden vereinte Europäische
Union, das ist die Antwort auf die Verheerungen zweier Weltkriege.
Lesen Sie die
Rede auf Deutsch: Frank Walter Steinmeier,
Inauguration of the Museum Hartmannswillerkopf, 10 November 2017
(…)Today, we –
French and Germans alike – are remembering together what happened in this very
place. We are recalling something that each generation has to learn afresh for
itself – to separate the concept of nation from the ideology of nationalism. We
are remembering what happened, because we never again want to be led astray by
nationalism – to repression at home and aggression towards others.
We
need this remembrance, as a memorial, a monument, a museum – but that alone
will not suffice. When we commemorate the soldiers who lie here, when we honour
their memory, we do so because we must not forget their deaths. This task is
not getting any easier, 100 years after the events, now that the last living
witnesses have died and young people ask, "what
has any of this to do with me?" But,
for this very reason, it is not one iota less important. (…)
Europe,
this Europe – the European Union united in peace – this is our response to the
devastation of two World Wars.
Read the full
speech here: Frank Walter Steinmeier, Inauguration of
the Museum Hartmannswillerkopf, 10 November 2017
Dès le lendemain de la Grande
Guerre, ce site reçut des visiteurs venus arpenter ce champ de bataille déjà
légendaire pour essayer de comprendre l'horreur d'une expérience que les mots
ne suffisaient pas à exprimer. La
nature n'avait pas encore repris ses droits, alors. Les sapins étaient encore ces troncs
calcinés, plantés sur une terre labourée par les obus. En 1921, un monument fut érigé en
l'honneur du 152ème Régiment d'infanterie.
Mais à quoi bon cette
mémoire-là ? A quoi bon ces
pèlerinages si, dans le cœur des hommes, perdurait encore la rancœur, le
nationalisme débridé, le triomphalisme rageur des uns, l'immense désir de
revanche des autres ? Et à ce
moment-là, ces mémoires-là en étaient encore à ce stade.
Et c'est parce qu’il s'agissait
de deux mémoires concurrentes encore ennemies, qu'un autre conflit terrible fut
encore possible. Parce qu'il ne
suffit pas de se souvenir ! Il
faut essayer d'apprendre.
Retrouvez le
discours intégral ici: Emmanuel Macron, Inauguration
de l’historial franco-allemand de la guerre de 14-18 du Hartmannswillerkopf, 10
novembre 2017
Contrast
"This is the difference between the Netherlands and Indonesia: you
have everything to lose and we have everything to gain."
Indonesian Minister
(unnamed) quoted by: Frans Timmermans, Inaugural Frans
Timmermans Lecture, Radboud University Nijmegen, 24 November 2017
The road from Paris is equally challenging as the road to Paris.
Read the full
speech here: Maroš Šefčovič, COP 23, 11 November 2017
And the speech comes full circle
To end with Neil Gaiman, as I've started, with a wonderful quote
I like a lot:
"Fairytales are more than true. Not because they tell us that dragons
exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."
Read the full
speech here: Frans Timmermans, Inaugural Frans Timmermans
Lecture, Radboud University Nijmegen, 24 November 2017
Weave a theme throughout the speech
It’s very moving to receive this honorary doctorate, here at
Leuven University. Because in the nearly six centuries since the university was
first founded, Leuven has shaped our map of the world.
Sometimes literally. Many of us have a world map on the wall
that uses a technique that goes back to Gerardus Mercator – or Geert de Kremer,
as he was known when he first came to Leuven as a young man around 1530.
See how
this theme is woven into the whole speech here :
Finish on a strong call to action :
I therefore urge and
encourage you to continue! Bang on every table, march on every street, speak to
every decision-maker. Petition, write letters, and advocate. Speak to the
hearts and minds of Europeans and to citizens of the rest of the world. Make
them as aware and alert as we are that climate has no more time to wait. That
the Paris Agreement has no more time to wait. That ratification happened a year
ago and implementation must start now!
Thank you very much. (The
end)
Read the full
speech here: Maroš Šefčovič, COP 23, 11 November 2017
Alors oui, la meilleure
réponse à cette mémoire partagée, à ces drames, c'est l'amitié entre
l'Allemagne et la France. Ce sont ces ponts bâtis entre les femmes et
les hommes, entre les familles, entre les jeunesses ; la meilleure réponse,
c'est l'Europe, notre Europe (...).
Nous le devons à notre
histoire, nous le devons à nos morts, mais nous le devons surtout, cher
Frank-Walter, à notre jeunesse. (Fin)
Retrouvez le discours intégral ici: Emmanuel Macron, Inauguration de l’historial franco-allemand de la guerre de 14-18 du Hartmannswillerkopf, 10 novembre 2017
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