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The Week in Germany: Current Affairs

July 6, 2007

European Youth Stage Opera for Chancellor Merkel to Celebrate the Conclusion of Germany's EU Presidency

Percussionists from Portugal, Photo:REGIERUNGOnline/
Bolesch

In a slightly different conclusion to a European Union presidency, 300 young people from across Europe performed a "Short Garden Opera" in the Chancellery Park. Traditions, gender equality, racism, and relations between neighbors were themes dealt with in a rollercoaster ride of a performance.

Rainclouds hung overhead as the first notes were played in the Chancellery Park. Chancellor Angela Merkel und Youth Minister Ursula von der Leyen watched from under their umbrellas. Towards the end the sun came out again and a hundred voices from a wide variety of countries closed out the opera with a choral finale. The performance of the "Short Garden Opera" was a reflection of Europe's vibrancy, color, and diversity.

To mark the end of the German EU Presidency Chancellor Angela Merkel invited 300 young people from all 27 EU member states to Berlin to take part in an artistic exchange from the 25th to the 29th of June. Throughout their week together these young people worked in the spirit of the theme of this European Youth Meeting, "On the move in Europe".

They were asked to submit applications describing projects in any of the following categories: music, dance, film/photography, new media, theater, visual arts, or language. With the ideas they brought with them they put together a joint European project within three days, a "Short Garden Opera", which they performed in the Chancellery Park on the afternoon of June 28th.

Rollercoaster ride

An impressive choreography was presented showing European themes of interest to young people: traditions, gender equality, racism, and relations between neighbors.

"Europe is like a rollercoaster ride. Sometimes things go fast, sometimes they go slow, sometimes they go up, sometimes they go down," was the way one performer put it at the beginning of the opera. That wasn't an empty promise. There were rapid-fire sequences of contrasting stage presentations, e.g. French folk followed by heavy metal, or a pantomime scene followed by a scene with loud screaming.

True to the opera's title, "I Also Have a Suitcase in Berlin", the suitcase served as a leitmotif and unifying element, symbolizing mobility and open borders. "It took me a little while to catch on," Angela Merkel admitted with a laugh after the performance. She praised the European Youth Meeting participants for their performance, saying: "That was a super production given that it was put together in such a short time!"

Europe should offer opportunity for all

Ursula von der Leyen thanked the young people for their effort. "Europe means dialogue," she noted. "We need to talk to each other again and again about things we have in common." The Youth Minister said she hoped one of the things the participants would take home with them was new friendships and a strengthened sense of tolerance.

Angela Merkel said she hoped that many of the participants would be encouraged to travel to other European countries and to study or to learn occupations there. Everyone should have an opportunity to get to know Europe, she remarked.

She went on to say that academic exchange programs already do a lot to encourage mobility among young people, adding that there is a need to do more politically to ensure that this will also be the case among vocational trainees. She didn't need to see the "Short Garden Opera" to convince her that the political work being done in Europe is first and foremost for the benefit of young people.

The European Youth Meeting was organized at the Chancellor's request by the Franco-German Youth Office in cooperation with the German-Polish Youth Office as well as the International Youth Exchange and Visitors' Service of the Federal Republic of Germany. Cultural exchange has been a special interest of all three organizations for many years now. The European Youth Meeting was financed for the most part by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. (RegierungOnline).

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