Open City” is the title of a novel by Teju Cole about a young psychiatrist born in Nigeria who roams the streets of Manhattan. Cole describes the atmosphere common to many cosmopolitan cities, and the feelings of their inhabitants who often have their roots in other parts of the world. Similar stories could be told about Hamburg.

Hamburg is such a city with a cosmopolitan outlook; for centuries it has maintained relations with countries around the globe. Trade was never willing to accept borders and barriers; it opposed blockades like the Continental System and replaced inadequate sea charts with better ones as soon as they had been drawn. In this way, cultural exchange came about automatically. And of course that soon led the people of the city to go out into the wide world, where they feel at home to this day. It is just as natural, too, that people from every continent have felt encouraged to come to Hamburg. Hamburg is a city whose character has been shaped again and again by its new citizens.

This spirit is expressed in Hamburg’s Constitution, in which it says, As an international port, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg has a special mission to fulfil, assigned to it by its history and its geographic position. It seeks to act as an intermediary between all continents and nations in the cause of peace.”  

Arriving in the big city
Hamburg is an arrival city”, as the author Doug Saunders describes it. Its growth into a metropolis with more than a million inhabitants over the past 200 years to a current population of nearly 1.8 million has accelerated this development still further. Since the start of the second half of the 20th century alone, the composition of Hamburg’s population has changed so radically that immigrants, or the descendents of immigrants, now number about 530,000. Nearly one in three of our citizens has a history of immigration. All these new inhabitants of the city have come in the hope of a better life for themselves and their families. The dynamism that arises from such hope is just as essential for Hamburg’s prosperity as it is for the atmosphere of the city.

As a growing city with a growing population, Hamburg will always have to ensure that this dynamism does not break down in the face of old and new barriers, some of which may be insurmountable. A toll such as that charged for entering the city of Hamburg until the middle of the 19th century would be an absurd idea today, but no barriers of other kinds must be allowed to hamper the city’s development.

One such barrier that is not evident at first sight is the lack of living accommodation. The city currently has about 900,000 dwellings. By the early 2020s Hamburg will probably need a million houses and flats, so new ones will have to be built every year if all the city’s inhabitants are to have attractive and affordable homes.

Barriers to education may prove insurmountable, too. In order to break them down, Hamburg is investing in early child education and offers a comprehensive network of child nurseries and daycare centres for babies. For that reason, nearly all primary and secondary schools have all-day facilities; and that is why all secondary schools both high schools and so-called district schools” enable students to obtain their university entrance qualification. With the same goal in mind, Hamburg has established a Youth Employment Agency” in which all the relevant federal and regional authorities seek to help young people make the transition from school to vocational training and suitable qualification. Education in Hamburg is free: before the end of this year, the fees for half-day attendance of daycare facilities and nurseries, which have already been reduced, will be abolished completely; at schools, the learning materials (books) are provided free of charge, and at the universities no tuition fees are charged. It is our conviction that a person’s origins must not be a stumbling block.

Whether the pursuit of happiness” is successful also depends on whether boundaries within the city hamper the development of the individual. If Hamburg takes its cosmopolitan tradition seriously the city must do away with these boundaries, which are not visible at first sight.

Civic rights and solidarity
In a city republic as ancient as Hamburg, with established traditions, civic rights are part of the community’s self-image. But liberal and open-minded as the city was, only a small proportion of its inhabitants were allowed civic rights for long periods of its history. Even at the start of the 20th century a pre-democratic census suffrage excluded the majority of Hamburg’s citizens including all women from representative participation. And with them the Social Democratic party, that was supported by this majority of the population. General participation was not possible until 1918/19, under the pressure of the revolutionary movement after the First World War.

An Arrival City must grant migrants equal rights as citizens as well as its residents of long standing and that again and again. About half of the immigrants who have arrived in recent years already have German citizenship. Of the other half, about 137,000 could apply for it according to current German law. As the Mayor I write to all these 137,000 residents of Hamburg and invite them to acquire German nationality. And that has proved very successful: the number of naturalizations has increased considerably. In 2013 alone we celebrated 7,329 naturalizations. That is twice as many as in 2009. The celebrations in the most splendid chamber of Hamburg’s Town Hall are an impressive testimony to successful integration.

Not least in its own interests an Arrival City must find ways of recognizing professional qualifications acquired abroad. Hamburg was the first of the 16 Länder to pass a recognition law of its own to come into force alongside the new national recognition law, so that qualifications regulated by national and regional law can now be recognized. For example, we want to enable an Afghan engineer, a trained nurse from Syria or a Romanian doctor to work in his or her chosen profession here in our city.

A cosmopolitan city also attracts people of different religions as well as those without any religious convictions. Besides the Lutheran church, favoured by the majority of Hamburg’s population, the Roman Catholic church, other Christian denominations and the Jewish community have always played an important role. The latter has grown again after the Shoah. Muslims and Alevites have also been present for a long time, but they are much more strongly represented today. So it was an important step towards recognizing a new reality when the city’s administration entered a contract with the Muslims and Alevites after the contracts with the Protestant church, the Holy See and the Jewish community.

Protection
I have already mentioned Teju Cole’s novel about cosmopolitan New York. Julius, the hero of the novel, talks to Saidu from Liberia, who has made his way to Lisbon via Tangier and tried to enter the USA, where he is now waiting for deportation. This personal story illustrates the extent to which flight and labour migration influence our world.

But it is not only recently that flight and labour migration have shaped the character of the world we live in. There have been such migration movements for a long time. Many Germans, too, have had to leave their homes and emigrate. Millions have sailed from the Port of Hamburg to seek their fortune in the New World.

And many of Hamburg’s citizens, or their forebears, came to the city as refugees. Among the first were Portuguese Jews who were able to settle in Altona and religious refugees from the Netherlands; they were followed later by persons who had fled or been expelled from the eastern parts of Europe and Germany. Today the city affords protection to over 10,000 refugees who have applied for political asylum in Germany or who wish to stay in Germany for humanitarian reasons. For this the city provides a sum in the three-digit millions. If the number of those seeking protection suddenly increases by leaps and bounds, as it did in 2013, it is no small challenge just to find accommodation for them. But it is a challenge Hamburg meets with the help and solidarity of its citizens. It is important to me that besides providing accommodation we do not forget to educate the children. So the city’s administration has decided to give the school-age children of all those seeking protection the chance to attend a school.

The bitter truth is that an unknown number of people live in our cities without papers and without a residence permit. They must expect to be discovered at any time, with the result that their stay in Germany will come to an abrupt end. We must not close our eyes to this side of our everyday reality. To prevent the worst hardship, Hamburg provides offers of medical care. If the children attend day nurseries or schools, their residence status is not reported to the Immigration Office. And of course the cost of the nurseries and other institutions is refunded.

Europe
Hamburg has long been able to benefit from the opening of Germany’s borders. Although Europe still has frontiers that divide it, those in the European Union have been abolished.

Hamburg is one of Europe’s biggest cities. The metropolitan region has a population of some five million. That is about one percent of the population of the European Union, for some 500 million people live in the EU.

Hamburg is part of a European labour market with some 220 million employees who can choose their place of work in Europe without restrictions. That means a huge internal labour market, even if employee migration within the EU is not as great as in the United States of America because of the many language barriers and probably for some other reasons too. However, the current employment crisis in many EU countries is likely to speed up the development of the internal market and increase mobility. That doubtless applies to young people from these countries who have uncertain employment prospects at home in the long term. Full freedom of movement has recently been extended to the working population of Bulgaria and Romania too. For Germany and Hamburg, in particular, that is likely to mean new stimulus to growth.

Incidentally: in contrast to the USA, the social security systems within the European Union differ widely. That is especially true when it comes to social security in the event of unemployment. According to the logic of a properly functioning European labour market and in fact according to the logic and purpose of European unification in general these social security systems should be harmonized. But in view of social security payments that are high in Germany and some other economically successful states as compared to the European average that is unlikely to be a realistic prospect for some long time. Employees in Scandinavia, Germany, Austria and the Benelux States, for example, will not accept a reduction of their claims, and understandably so. That is all the more reason at least to make the systems more compatible. On the one hand we must not restrict freedom of movement, and we must refute and reject the repeated attempts to stir up fears and aggression with anti-immigrant slogans like alleged social tourism”. But on the other hand we should not ignore the possibility that mobility may be increased or even triggered by the prospect of social transfers; we should do all we can to prevent this as far as possible.

Europe’s outer borders
While the borders within the European Union are vanishing and a large area of harmonized law and a Single Market for goods, services and the workforce is developing, Europe is seeking to protect its common borders once more.

These borders are not impermeable. Germany has opened its frontiers for qualified persons from third countries within the scope of European law. Those who graduate from a German university and find a suitable job can, in practice, stay and immigrate permanently. Those who have completed vocational training in Germany and prove that they have found a job can stay permanently too. Those who prove they have a job that provides them with an annual gross income of more than 46,400 EUR can enter the country with their family thanks to the EU Blue Card and in practice stay permanently. Professional people currently including research scientists, mathematicians, engineers, doctors and IT specialists can claim an EU Blue Card even if they earn less. To do so they must have a salary comparable to that of European employees, but at least 36,192 EUR a year. The EU Blue Card makes it easier to attract specialists of this kind, even without a previous analysis of the labour market situation. Furthermore, the EU Blue Card also gives the husband or wife unrestricted access to the labour market. Our city has supported this development by setting up the Hamburg Welcome Center, where immigrants are given competent advice not only in German. And not only on matters relating to the law on foreigners; help and advice is also given in finding accommodation and on education, vocational training or a place in a day nursery.

Nevertheless: Europe’s borders are a forbidding reality for many. And not all borders are visible. When we speak of Europe and Africa, for example, we have to admit that even fifty years after the end of colonialism, we still cannot meet on equal terms as neighbours. The reasons are complex and multidimensional; goodwill and economic aid alone are not enough to improve the situation. That applies even to well-meant and carefully organized development aid.

Helping people to help themselves apparently has little effect against the rule of a corrupt, authoritarian elite on the one hand and imported goods offered at dumping prices and with the odium of disposal (cars or electronic scrap) on the other. Even the current EU fisheries policy gives cause for harsh criticism again and again. The objection: besides illegal, uncontrolled hauls under false flags, it is Europe’s trawlers that exhaust the fishing grounds off West Africa, robbing the local fishermen of their livelihood and forcing them to leave the country as refugees. And it is a similar problem when we export tomatoes to Ghana and chicken legs to Cameroon and deprive the local farmers of their income. Trade barriers and high subsidies for agricultural products from Europe which rob African trading centres and the products of regional agriculture of their value cripple the initiative of the native population.

All this aggravates a situation in which young and active men and women, especially, who are searching for individual happiness, turn towards Europe rather than Africa.

So it is a good thing that the negotiations on a new world trade agreement that took place in Bali in December made some progress. The aim must be to open all the borders wider for an exchange of goods and services from the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. That would doubtless help to achieve an upswing in the economies of the poor countries. And it would certainly do Europe no harm.

But the outer border of the European Union is a very concrete barrier for many who want to emigrate to Europe or seek protection within its bounds. The distressing pictures of capsizing boats are a dramatic expression of attempts by a vast number of people to overcome Europe’s fortifications either because they are unaware of the danger or because they have ceased to care. We are moved to pity by them. Scenes like those we are familiar with from the coast of Italy take place off Malta and in the Straits of Gibraltar too. They are common in the two European enclaves on African soil Ceuta and Melilla. They occur at the border between Greece and Turkey. And we see such pictures outside Europe, too. On the news we see Africans who have sought refuge in Israel and are protesting against their living conditions. Wherever the prospects on the two sides of a border mean different chances in life, there are reports of often perilous attempts to cross heavily guarded borders, including the border between the USA and Mexico. One thing is certain: more and more people will try to reach Europe. And Europe must face the questions that arise out of this, because these issues will not just go away.

In Munich, in Berlin and in Hamburg, refugees and immigrants driven by poverty or the search for work have set up camps and are demanding residence and work permits. They are doing so irrespective of the individual reasons that have triggered their wish to live in Germany. Quite a number of people sympathize with these mostly young men. And they express their solidarity through slogans like refugees stay”, open  borders” or no-one is illegal anywhere”. Although most people realize that the demand for an unconditional opening of the borders for all” is unreasonable and gives the refugees themselves less help the more of them there are, they still demand a solution. And rightly so. But what might such a solution be?

Cosmopolitanism
As the people of a cosmopolitan city we may perhaps hope to gain insights from the principle of cosmopolitanism” that will take us a step forward in the public discussion of solutions. Kwame Anthony Appiah, a university lecturer born in London and raised in Ghana, has written a philosophical work in which this concept plays a central role. Ethics in a World of Strangers” is the sub-title of the original English version. Appiah’s question is: What do we owe strangers by virtue of our shared humanity?

Cosmopolitanism is an adventure and an ideal, the author maintains. And no local allegiances must ever allow us to forget that every man has a duty towards his fellow men. According to Immanuel Kant, the moral respect for human dignity springs from the human race in the person of the individual”. In a world as we imagine it, in which regional, national and religious loyalties co-exist peacefully, humanity is not a Sunday virtue, and the concept of cosmopolitanism is a necessity.

Kwame Anthony Appiah takes his father as an example to illustrate that we can recognize this interconnectedness and draw practical conclusions from it without a study of philosophy. The author describes the position we should take up as partial cosmopolitanism. As one of the leaders of the independence movement in what was then the Gold Coast” his father saw no inconsistency between local partiality and universal moral. That is truer than ever in our day: in the one world” in which we were living even before the age of global digitization we give ourselves up if we care about nothing but our own wellbeing.

But behind this philosophy there is yet another insight: Only if we take our own lives seriously”, the Hamburg philosopher Volker Gerhardt maintains, can we convincingly accept responsibility for others; care for ourselves is the guarantee of care for the world.” And one thing is certain: to open Europe’s borders completely would have consequences which would certainly give cause for concern.

Germany could no longer be a welfare state, and Europe could not become one because a welfare state cannot provide limitless support for everyone least of all on the present level. Or we would have to go back to distinguishing between our” poor and the foreign” poor who lived together in or on the streets of Hamburg in the 18th and 19th centuries. If our borders were opened unconditionally, the EU and Germany would have to tolerate the existence of informal settlements inside and outside our cities, like those we find in many places throughout the world.

To be able to live anywhere in the world without boundaries is an important notion for the future. But we would deny ourselves this very future if we were to take boundless” political action at present.

Not many people are really and seriously calling for completely open borders. But there is widespread silence. It shows itself in the fact that the fortunately large group of people who feel we should do more for those who are trying to enter Europe, whatever their motives that this group has scarcely any idea of what can be done. The reason is presumably that every suggestion for a solution ultimately means discussing the question of borders if we are to avoid the consequences I have just described.

Joint responsibility of all the EU states
One thing is clear: if Europe is to find a viable solution to the stream of refugees it can only do so jointly and through solidarity. The current procedure which requires the refugees to stay in the country where they first trod European soil (unless they circumvent it by further flight or migration) is often criticized.

One alternative would be a quota model. The Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration recently suggested ways of achieving a fair sharing of the burden” according to such a quota model. The calculation, that takes the country’s total population and economic power into account, currently shows that Germany should take in about as many refugees as it does at present; according to this calculation method that would be about 16 percent of all the refugees arriving in Europe. Some 20 countries, including the United Kingdom and incidentally Italy too, would have to take in more refugees. However, a quota model of this kind based on the allocation formula applied for the 16 Länder in Germany, would be unlikely to achieve a consensus among the member states of the European Union at this time.

Even in Germany, living conditions are not the same everywhere. But those who seek asylum in Bremen and are required to live in Ingolstadt for the duration of their asylum procedure will be able to accept that, since the living conditions are at least equally good and, with a few unfortunate exceptions, equally safe. But whether someone who applies for asylum in Amsterdam will accept Bucharest as a safe place of residence is questionable. The living conditions are simply too different. Nevertheless, it would not be a practicable solution for every refugee who crosses the border into Europe to choose his European destination for himself. The researchers from the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration point out the moral hazard” that some states may make the standards for accommodating refugees as low as possible in order to discourage asylum seekers from coming to their country.

Whatever the solution: there is ultimately no alternative to a joint responsibility of all the European states for the refugees from third countries.

Prospects of legal immigration
No technical” solution will spare us from answering Appiah’s question, What do we owe strangers by virtue of our shared humanity?” Willy Brandt’s answer was: compassion.

In a speech entitled To Europe”, held in Vienna in 2005, Navid Kermani spoke of Paul Bowles, the deceased US American author, who wrote in his novels of Westerners who, as Kermani puts it, are tired of their civilization and flee to Africa to escape a life without meaning”. According to Kermani, all the boarding houses in downtown Tangier are now occupied by people who would rejoice in a Western way of life without meaning as long as it was a life at all. (…) They come from different parts of Morocco, from villages, small towns, the metropolis of Casablanca. Three of four of them had been to university or had been trained for a job; one was an engineer, another a car mechanic. The rest had nothing to show but their eagerness. That makes no difference. They won’t find work in Morocco in any case. What were they looking for in Europe, I asked them. Work, of course a normal life. No more than that. A minimum of security, not to have to fight for survival day in, day out; the chance to start a family or at least to take a girlfriend out. A car or a vacation are not part of the normal life they dream of; what’s important to them is to have enough money so that they can send some to the family from time to time.”

Those who come, those who make tremendous efforts to reach Europe, travel in mixed streams, as the UN High Commissioner puts it. Refugees and economic migrants often share the same boat on the way from Africa, and the motives of one are no less valid than those of another. But precisely because the number of those who should really be called migrant workers and those who are leaving their countries of origin because of poor economic prospects is possibly greater than the number of those forced to flee from political persecution or war, it is important to think about possibilities of legal immigration.

Not because Germany or the EU has a need for qualified labour; that would be false reasoning. Qualified workers can already immigrate somehow, even if it tends to be difficult. No: the aim must be to prevent men and women from travelling across continents for weeks or months, sometimes crossing deserts, exposed to extreme dangers, in order to try to enter Europe illegally at the risk of their lives. In his report published by the magazine Der Spiegel in 2006 and awarded the Nannen Prize, Klaus Brinkbäumer describes the African Odyssey”. Together with John Ekow Ampan, who now lives in Andalusia, he made the journey from Ghana through the Sahara to the Mediterranean coast a second time. The report contains impressive descriptions of the hardships people like John Ekow Ampan take upon themselves in order to seek a future in Europe.

The prospects of legal immigration must be such that they do not place an unreasonable burden on the European labour markets and are at the same time attractive enough to greatly reduce the numbers of those who set out on perilous journeys. That would be a strategy with a humanitarian motive.

One way might be to make it easier for those who have an offer of employment to acquire a residence and work permit. Maybe a limited number could be allowed to enter in order to look for work. Such a strategy already exists: the points model, once suggested by the Süßmuth Commission and now practised by numerous immigration countries such as Canada. The United States have established a random selection procedure for candidates who are interested in obtaining a work visa and meet certain requirements in respect of qualification. Europe will have to learn from those states which have longer experience of labour migration in our time.

Numerous studies have analyzed the effects of freedom of movement in Europe on the European labour market. They have revealed some surprising facts. Sweden, especially, that opened its labour market early, rarely reports difficulties. The reason is probably that most Swedish employees are paid according to collective agreements which are extended unquestioningly to new arrivals.

From this experience we can draw conclusions for migration to the EU and Germany from third countries. If we in Germany were able to return to a system of employer-employee relationships regulated by collective agreements; if a general statutory minimum wage and minimum wages for specific industries offered protection against wage dumping; if the number of insecure jobs in the shape of contracts for work and services could be reduced and the abuse of temporary work likewise; if moonlighting” and informal employment were effectively cut down then Germany could offer migrant workers from third countries more possibilities than exist at present without the risk that persons already employed in Germany might suffer. In this respect Sweden can be regarded as a model.

Maybe that could constitute an offer to trade unions and political circles by worried German employers worried because of the threatening shortage of qualified employees: a cautious further opening of the labour markets to nationals of third countries in exchange for jointly agreed regulations for the labour market.

The present position is that in many cases the labour administration has to issue a permit before nationals of third countries can be granted employment. A so-called priority review” is carried out to determine whether any EU residents seeking work are suitable for the job. No easy task, considering the size of the European labour market. This might be a starting point for a cautious opening. Where collective agreements have been declared generally binding according to the Collective Bargaining Act we could perhaps first try to permit the conclusion of employment contracts with nationals of third countries without the priority review.

Sugarcandy Mountain
Europe should also be more generous with the issue of visas. Many young scientists from third countries and many artists find it difficult to acquire a visa. Others are unable to visit their relatives in Europe, and many a well-to-do member of the middle class of an African or Asian country is simply unable to convince the authorities that he just wants to visit Europe as a tourist. European consulates often assume that the traveller lacks the will to return” as German law puts it. Europe’s consulates should be asked to show more courage when issuing visas. Maybe the European Smart Borders” package will help; it involves setting up a system for recording the time and place of entry and exit of third country nationals at the outer borders of the EU member states and a registration system for travellers. Persons who stay in their host country without permission after their visa has expired so-called visa overstayers” can then be identified more easily. Secure borders might then clear the ground for more generosity in granting visas.

That is important for another reason, too. Nationals of states outside Europe, for example in Africa, must be able to acquire a realistic view of the chances they have of a life in Europe.

Let us take our own country, Germany, and look at the unemployment statistics. Over half of the long-term unemployed have no school leaving qualification and no vocational training. The current upswing on the labour market, the increasing availability of jobs in Germany, passes those by who do not have adequate education and professional qualifications. And the number of jobs the German labour market offers persons with low qualifications is decreasing all the time. A glance at the development of employment according to qualification in Hamburg from 2000 to 2010 shows that jobs for persons without vocational training have decreased by over 15 percent in a single decade.

One problem of the future labour market is that a considerable percentage of all the young people in Germany currently remains permanently without qualifications. But an analysis drawn up for Hamburg’s Qualified Employee Strategy forecasts that the future labour market will have few openings for unskilled workers.

That leads to a bitter but realistic conclusion: qualified and educated individuals from all parts of the world will have opportunities in Germany. The many who undertake the trek or the sea passage to Europe and do not have such qualifications will only achieve integration into the German labour market with a maximum of ambition and effort. Many of the jobs for unskilled workers are now to be found in the emerging countries and no longer in Germany. Maybe a better knowledge of the reality in Europe would convince some that it is better to stay in their native country and go on looking for opportunities there in spite of all the difficulties. But that is not possible if Europe remains outside their experience a Sugarcandy Mountain”, to quote George Orwell’s bitter scorn for those who promised themselves a better life in the Hereafter instead of working for decent conditions on the spot.

Successful integration
It will doubtless always be the case that only those who meet the set requirements will be able to stay. That applies to both refugees and migrant workers. And it will make no difference if the requirements are changed in the way I have discussed here. Nevertheless, the practical implementation should always be realistic. And that means: if integration proves successful during the generally long legal procedure, that should have consequences. Those who find a job that secures their livelihood, finish school or vocational training successfully, should benefit from their efforts. Other changes in their personal circumstances should have a positive effect too. And not have negative consequences because they originally came for other reasons, as is often the case at present.

The procedure for assessing applications for asylum in Germany takes a long time, as it probably does in many other countries too. So it is important not to condemn the applicants to inactivity for the duration of this procedure but to issue them with a work permit early on. That would do them good, because it generates confidence and dignity. No-one should have to live at the expense of the state if they would much rather work and earn their own keep. I am very glad the new national government has taken up this subject and intends to permit the issue of a work permit after three months.

Whatever the outcome of the asylum procedure, successful integration should enable a safe stay in Germany. So on Hamburg’s initiative the Bundesrat has requested an arrangement for young people who have not been granted asylum but are permitted to stay temporarily nevertheless. Those who obtain a school leaving qualification should be able to acquire permanent residence status. And of course young men and women should be able to train for an occupation without being excluded by labour market regulations. Fortunately that has now become possible.

For those who are fleeing from war or famine it is a matter of life and death to reach a place of safety in spite of frontiers. Whether such reasons exist is examined in legal procedures in accordance with the constitution. But if successful integration takes place during this time there must be possibilities of staying on this side of the border even if the competent authority does not recognize legitimate reasons for flight at the end of the procedure.

Moral challenges
As I have said: we in Hamburg and the EU have a responsibility to ensure that conditions and opportunities in the refugees’ countries of origin improve. That obliges us to change our customs regulations and trade policy and engage in committed development cooperation in response to needs and expertise on the spot. The people of the wealthy countries can do more, Kwame Anthony Appiah says. He calls it a simple moral demand. And he is right.

Of course we know that simple solutions are very rare in politics. Some people consider politics” and problem solving” a contradiction in terms. I do not share this view. To my mind: if a solution doesn’t just fall into our lap, we have to work on it. And in this process even small steps may provoke strong feelings.

Hamburg’s future in a united Europe in a world that is increasingly open to all determines our common political goals. These include lowering the administrative ramparts surrounding Europe. For we have a responsibility not only towards ourselves but towards all who have the same right to live on this planet as we do. Kwame Anthony Appiah comes very close to the nature of politics when he says, In some ways cosmopolitanism is the name not of the solution but of the challenge.” We in Hamburg are taking up this challenge.

• "Hamburg, Europa und die Grenzen" - Grundsatzrede im Thalia-Theater
• « Hambourg, l'Europe et les frontières » - Allocution prononcée au Thalia Theater