From BZ/dpa
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called for solidarity with Ukraine – even if that means disadvantages in his own country.
“The war that Putin is waging against Ukraine is also a war against European unity. We must not allow ourselves to be divided,” said Steinmeier on Sunday at the 500th Libori meal in Paderborn.
One can only take a clear stance and become clear about one’s own responsibility “if we are prepared to defend these values, if we are prepared to stand up for their validity and for them, yes, sensitive disadvantages in to buy.”
“Are we ready for this?”
“Are we ready for that?” he asked. “We are all facing this question – today and in the coming days, weeks and months.” Steinmeier said he feared a return to a time of mutual isolation between East and West. “The older ones still know about the fragility and danger of this condition.”
The Libori Festival dates back to the ninth-century transfer of the bones of Saint Liborius, patron saint of the Archdiocese of Paderborn, from Le Mans in France to Paderborn.
Germany
Steinmeier described Franco-German relations and Christianity as central to Europe. Its strength, community of values, happiness and future depend “to a large extent on the partnership, even the friendship, between Germany and France,” he said. And: Europe is based “for the most part on Christian – and that’s exactly why, by the way, also on Jewish – foundations.”
The Libori Festival is a mixture of church celebrations and worldly fun with a fun fair. It is one of the oldest and largest folk festivals in Germany, and in 2022 it will be held for the 500th time. At the Libori meal, a prominent speaker in the town hall speaks to guests from the city’s public life on the subject of Europe.