Remembrance Sunday

It is a coincidence but does not seem inappropriate that I start my blog shortly after Remembrance Sunday when I participated in the civic event in Lewisham and laid a wreath on behalf of the Green Party Group on Lewisham Council.

Remembrance Sunday is first and foremost a day to remember those who served and died in all wars. In Germany, where I come from, it is also seen as an opportunity to look back on many years of peace in Western Europe since the Second World War and on the cooperation of initially Western European countries and more recently a much larger European Union, and to look into a future that is based on these foundations.

As a citizen I often shake my head in despair about some bizarre decisions taken "in Brussels". But as a historian and with a longer term perspective I also see the benefits of European cooperation - maybe we take them so much for granted now that they seem almost negligible compared to the current business of European politics. And at a personal level, having lived in Belgium for two years and in France for four years before moving to London, I also appreciate the freedom and the opportunities millions of Europeans have today.