Chaired by: Frank Schirrmacher
Reported by: Matthias Matussek

[…] Old Europe and New Europe go hand in hand and may eventually form a super group and go on tour. The more important part is that it seems to be culture as identity politics, culture as a certain set of values and language, of standards that hold society together as “Leitkultur” – as we say in Germany – which is under attack by radicals and terrorists. […] And I think every other European country would have given the same answers,so they are common European values. Freedom of speech which is not a German or Italian or English value but one that is commonly
shared by the Western world. […] We do not like to be blown up while we ride the subway but we also do not want to have a police state with a one-dimensional society. Where does that leave Europe? Julia Varadi reminds us that Europe for East European countries was a promise, a hope. And that it helped to spread freedom amongst the communist block. It was a very important idea, Europe. That seems to be the understanding, that again Europe is a great entity because it is diverse. And that Europe needs to speak with one voice on the other hand if it is
combating a common threat like terrorism. Again we have this murky Old Europe/New Europe mishmash which is – in one word – “typical Europe”.