Preface

Summary

October 1992 was the fiftieth anniversary of the battle of El Alamein where the British, the Germans, and the Italians fought each other. It was also a few months after a majority of Danish voters had rejected the Treaty of Maastricht, designed as a quantum leap for the European integration. The outcome of the Danish referendum led to an abrupt stop for the ratification procedure in the House of Commons, bringing the government under John Major into severe political difficulties, casting doubts over not only the Treaty, but also the survival of the government.

As I recollect it, BBC was reporting from El Alamein where war veterans had assembled to commemorate the battle. As the camera glided over the war graves, one of the veterans offered the following comment in a low but serene voice: “If you want an argument for ratifying the Treaty of Maastricht, you find it here”.

Almost at the same time, I was deputizing for the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark at an informal ministerial meeting under British EU presidency, taking place at Brocket Hall. While sitting and pondering about which course the EU would take in the months to come after my own country had chosen to jeopardize the future of the integration, I heard one minister saying, “looking at the splendid portraits of the British noblemen having lived here I cannot help thinking that they probably spent most of their time in the low countries, commanding German and Irish troops fighting the French”.

In December 1994, I was again deputizing when the then German presidency hosted a working luncheon for the Central and Eastern European countries on their way towards full membership of the European Union. The German presidency had chosen Villa Hügel as the venue. This used to be the residence of the Krupp family, owners of Krupp Works, which for decades produced guns for, first, the imperial German army, and then, the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany. When guests walked pass the gallery to the dining room, portraits of the Krupp family looked at them.