Dear speech-fans and friends,
Challenges and how to take up these
challenges: this has been the leading theme in
European speeches this month.
Little surprise there are several quotes in
German this time. No worry: they are so well organised that everything has its
translation into English J
Viel Spaß. Enjoy the reading.
Isabelle
State of the European Union
Our European Union is not in a good state.
There is not enough Europe in this Union.
And there
is not enough Union in this Union.
We have to
change this.
And we have
to change this now.
President Juncker,
State of the Union 2015: Time for Honesty, Unity and Solidarity, 9 September
2015
What ails
Europe, what ails our nations today is a poisonous cocktail of a lack of mutual
trust and a lack of self-confidence. We are slow to react to challenges, we are
slow to implement even the most obvious common answers, because we do not
believe in ourselves, in our ability to adapt, to respond to challenges, to
make tomorrow better than today. We are slow to find common answers not because
there are no answers, but because we do not trust the word “common”…
The Europe we want to achieve
the kind of
Europe that we want to work to achieve.
We stand
for a Europe that, especially in the face of crises and challenges, can be sure
of its great strengths and which must act with its great achievements in mind.
A Europe
committed to the weakest and the persecuted,
a Europe of
peaceful cooperation between religions and cultures,
a Europe of
freedom and democracy and a Europe that, ultimately, time and again brings to
mind the beauty of the world and the greatness of humanity.
More on the 2015 Arrailos meeting
A challenge for all in Europe (speech in
the German budget debate)
Sehr geehrter Herr Präsident! Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen! Meine Damen
und Herren!
Unsere Wirtschaft ist stark, unser Arbeitsmarkt robust. In vielen Branchen
werden Fachkräfte sogar regelrecht gesucht. Das heißt, man kann sagen,
Deutschland ist in diesen Monaten in guter Verfassung.
… so groß die Herausforderung auch ist – diese Herausforderung ist
lang andauernd, und sie ist groß; ich mache mir da überhaupt keine
Illusionen –, so sehr bin ich überzeugt, dass Deutschland sie bewältigen
kann. Mehr noch: Ich bin überzeugt, dass wir es nicht nur können, sondern dass
wir, wenn wir es gut machen, wenn wir es mutig angehen, wenn wir nicht verzagt
sind, sondern Ideen suchen, wenn wir kreativ sind, letztlich nur gewinnen
können. Das sollte uns leiten bei der Bewältigung dieser Herausforderung.
Bundeskanzlerin Merkel, Rede im Deutschen Bundestag, 9 September 2015
More on this Speech in English
Challenges with our neighbors
It was also a very different moment from now.
The reunification of Europe made all kinds of things seem
possible.
The Rose revolution in Georgia in 2003, the Orange revolution in
Ukraine in 2004 made it seem likely that further massive transformation was
possible.
Well, those who believed we would easily create a "ring of
friends" now find themselves, like in the Johnny Cash song, surrounded by
a "ring of fire".
Commissioner Hahn,
Theorizing the European Neighbourhood Policy, 17 September 2015
How to contribute to the debate
My world is
a day-to-day world. It does not reward analysis and long-term thought.
Your world [academia] is a world that does reward long-term
thought and analysis but does not always reward day-to-day elements.
Perhaps we
should look for ways to create more cross-fertilisation between these two
worlds.
Justement, que
pouvons-nous apprendre d'un historien?
Dans un
débat désordonné, il faut se donner les moyens, j’allais presque dire les
moyens rhétoriques, pour soutenir le choc …
On sait tout ce qui ne marche pas : l’arrogance, l’argument
d’autorité, le tunnel explicatif.
Ce qui marche n’est pas si évident : cela a à voir
aussi avec une forme d’émotion collective.
Je pense qu’il n’est pas raisonnable, quand on a des choses sérieuses à
défendre, de se contenter d’être en permanence le pompier de ses propres
émotions.
Parce que sinon, on se fait toujours déborder par moins scrupuleux et plus
habile que soi…
The art of storytelling in speeches
Jocelyn had
helped to build a radio telescope that recorded signals from very distant parts
of the universe, as well as radio interference from man-made transmitters.
One day,
she was looking at a 3 mile long print out of all this information, when she found
a patchy pulsating signal, which she amplified.
Blip. Blip.
Blip.
The signal
was constant and strong.
Aliens
perhaps?
Months
later, while still trying to make sense of these pulses, she detected another
patchy signal.
Blip. Blip.
Blip.
At 3:00 in
the morning, before she left for Christmas holidays, she rushed out to get the
cold telescope working for just 5 minutes at full sensitivity.
The signal
was the same, but faster and from a completely different part of the sky. This
couldn't be aliens. Jocelyn had discovered …
(To find out what she discovered and why
we should) Never forget these stories (go the
full speech)
Commissioner Moedas, Recognising the Contribution of Women to
Science, 24 September 2015
What to say after « Volkswagen. Das Fiasco » ?
(English below)
Volkswagen wird unter meiner Führung alles daran setzen, die strengsten
Compliance- und Governance-Standards der gesamten Branche zu entwickeln und
umzusetzen. Wenn uns dies alles gelingt, dann hat der Volkswagen Konzern mit
seiner Innovationskraft, seinen starken Marken und vor allem seiner
kompetenten, hochmotivierten Mannschaft die Chance, langfristig gestärkt aus
dieser Krise hervorzugehen.
Under
my leadership, Volkswagen will do everything it can to develop and implement
the most stringent compliance and governance standards in our industry. If we
manage to achieve that then the Volkswagen Group with its innovative strength,
its strong brands and above all its competent and highly motivated team has the
opportunity to emerge from this crisis stronger than before.
Matthias Müller appointed CEO of the Volkswagen Group
*****************