Orvieto Forum Remarks by Helga Zepp-LaRouche

‘The Ghost of Sovereignism
Is Once Again Haunting Europe’

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder and leader of the Schiller Institute, participated in a panel July 27, titled, “The Ghost of Sovereignism Is Once Again Haunting Europe,” on the second of three days of the forum in Orvieto, Italy, sponsored by the Indipendenza! Party. Her remarks were made in two exchanges with panelists. An edited transcript is provided here in full. Subheads have been added. The full video of the second day of the three-day forum is available here. Zepp-LaRouche’s first remarks begin at 1:02:48.

Well, I think we have a big crisis in Germany right now, because when the NATO summit took place, Scholz—the Chancellor—afterwards declared that the United States had decided to install long-range missiles in Germany. That was not discussed in the German Parliament, there was no referendum among the German citizens, and these long-range missiles represent a clear escalation towards nuclear war. The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Ryabkov, already answered by saying that Russia will counter that with similar measures, possibly including nuclear-armed missiles. So, the question is, how is it that the United States can make a decision which puts into jeopardy the very existence of Germany? When Scholz said it was the United States who decided—who in the United States? We just experienced that there was an assassination attempt on Trump, where the cui bono? is still a very open question. Then, shortly afterwards, President Biden resigned [from the campaign], because he clearly was not fit for the office anymore. There was a big discussion that this was not new, but that he had not been fit for quite some time. So, Biden obviously did not make the decision to put these long-range missiles into Germany.

So, this is a big problem. If you think that some unknown entity is making a decision over the very existence of Germany, that just brings on the table very clearly the question that Germany at this point has zero sovereignty. This is, however, clear to a small but significant portion of the German people, who basically, I would say, [agree with] most of what has been said here yesterday and today; meaning that they do not regard Russia as a mortal enemy, which the NATO summit just had declared. The NATO summit declared Russia to be a direct threat, the access of Ukraine to NATO is irreversible, China is a challenge for the Euro-Atlantic security order—all of which are assumptions which are not shared by the average people, because they have not been consulted. The mass media is just trying to get people convinced to believe the narrative of NATO.

In reality, the present situation is one where NATO is trying to impose its global dictatorship, which would mean decoupling from Russia, from China, and with that, from the Global Majority. Because in a complete blowback to the policies coming from NATO for some time, there is now a new system emerging in the form of the BRICS, the SCO, and other organizations of the Global South who are trying to create a new economic system, including a new currency, a New Development Bank. Europe is very much in a position where we have to decide, do we want to be the vassals of NATO going into a Third World War with the majority of the world—the Global Majority—or, do we want to line up with the economic bloc which clearly is on the rise to create a new system?

So, I think that we are right now in Germany in a very existential decision-making process, where I think we have to ally forces, and that’s why I’m very happy to be here, and I want to thank you for the invitation. I think the Italians, the Germans, the French, and other people of Europe have to unite at this point to fight this existential danger….

Work with the Global South for Development

We have a situation where the German economy is in a free fall. The economic collapse is much, much worse than meets the eye, if you look at the media or so. I think Germany is heading towards an absolutely existential collapse. And I think in that fortunately lies also a chance that people are waking up. It’s not just Germany which is collapsing. You have the trans-Atlantic financial system which is bankrupt. It’s sitting on $2.1 quadrillion in unpayable derivatives debt. That is a bubble which can detonate at any moment.

Now, there is a safety boat already, and that is the new economic system which is emerging in the Global Majority—the BRICS, the SCO, the Eurasian Economic Union, ASEAN. All of these countries are building an economic bloc. The danger is that if NATO puts pressure on Europe to decouple or to de-risk, not only are we heading towards a thermonuclear war— Because any one of the crises: Ukraine, the situation between Israel and Gaza, Netanyahu was just in the United States lobbying for a war against Iran, the crisis around China and Taiwan—we have three regional crises which could go into a nuclear war in a very short period of time.

So, what is the way out? The way out is that we have to think completely differently. If we stick to normal party politics, or normal procedures, I don’t think there is a way out. But if we think in terms of a paradigm-shift, that what we are experiencing right now is an historic transformation, where 500 years of colonialism is ending, [there is a way out].

Because of the strength of China, the countries of the Global South are now forming a new economic system. This is where economic growth is; the growth rates in Asia and the countries that are working with the Belt and Road Initiative are extremely high, while Europe and the trans-Atlantic world are collapsing. So I think the task we have to solve, is, we have to convince and make clear to the people of Europe that they have to ally with the Global South. Germany is collapsing, but Germany is an export nation, and if we would say, “Let’s work with the BRICS, let’s work with ASEAN, let’s work with the Global South,” we could participate in the prosperity which is developing there. We have to create 2-3 billion new productive jobs in the Global South, which we could do if all the countries of Europe would ally—hopefully with Japan and even the United States at some point. We could solve the migration issue in the only possible human way: in creating productive jobs so that the young people of Asia, of Latin America, of Africa want to stay home and build up their own countries.

Lesson of the Peace of Westphalia

So, I think that the biggest challenge we have is: how do we get to the mainstream influence [of] people? In Germany, for example, the East Germans are not believing the NATO narrative, because they had a different socialization than the West Germans. There are very important people in all of Germany who are already thinking the way I’m talking about now. But we have to succeed in making clear to the people who are reading Bild Zeitung, FAZ, the mainstream media every day, that there is a hope. So, I’m promoting, since the special military operation in Ukraine broke out, the idea that we have to have a new security and development architecture, which must include every single country on the planet, because if we create any kind of fracture which does not include every country, it is a step to war. That is the lesson of the Peace of Westphalia that ended 150 years of religious war in Europe, and it came to the conclusion that you have to pay attention to the interest of the other, if you want to have peace. And that means the interest of every other.

What I’m suggesting is not so far-fetched. On June 14th, President Putin of Russia proposed a new Eurasian economic security architecture. He did not mention the United States; he only said this Eurasian security architecture could be open to NATO countries. He left it undefined as to whether that includes the United States or not. Xi Jinping has made similar proposals by always talking about the need to have a shared community for the one future of mankind. He has proposed several initiatives—the Global Security Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, and the Global Civilizational Initiative—which go very much in the direction of what I’m saying.

So, I think we have to conspire, if you will, to put this idea of a new security and development architecture on the table, which includes every single country on the planet, because the present constellation of governments is so difficult—to put it diplomatically. I have also called for the creation of a Council of Reason. That is the call to elder statesmen, retired military, people from science, from culture, who have merit in having contributed something important, to step forward and advise governments and suggest solutions. Because I think the present crop of governments is not fit for the job.

Obviously, the electoral process is very difficult, and many obstacles are there. But I think if we would find in every single country on the planet, in all continents, the wisest people who would step forward. There are examples in history: For example, the Council of Florence in the beautiful Italian Renaissance was such a council, bringing together the wisest people from the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church. They managed to get unity in Christianity, at least for a certain period of time. The Peace of Westphalia itself was such a council of the wisest; also the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which helped South Africa to get over Apartheid was such a precedent. So, I think we need to come up with new solutions, because the fate of humanity has never been so much in danger as right now.

Sovereignty—the Pre-Condition

Now, why is sovereignty the absolutely important precondition, and why do we have to make that clear to people? Up until the 15th Century, all government forms were oligarchical. You had kings, monarchs, aristocrats—a small elite of privileged people who would keep the population deliberately backward. There was no participation of the individual in government. Then, in the 15th Century, [this was changed] through several influences: like the Italian Renaissance, which was a big step forward in the history of Europe; the government of Louis XI in France, where the income of the people doubled in 20 years; and through the writings of Nicolaus of Kues, who developed for the first time, that government is only legitimate if it has the consent of the governed—that only if the people agree with what the government is doing, is the government legitimate. That’s something which is completely lost today; governments do whatever they like. So, it was this invention by Nicolaus of Kues of the reciprocal relationship between the government and the governed, mediated through the representatives, whereby the individual—for the first time—could participate in government. This is why we absolutely have to reject supranational institutions like the EU, because the EU is a gigantic bureaucracy with enormous amounts of people—no transparency, no accountability. And the participation of the individual citizen in Italy, in Germany, does not exist.

So, I think this principle of sovereignty needs a broad discussion. Why do we need sovereignty? It’s an existential question.

We Need a Cultural Renaissance

Lastly, I think we need a cultural renaissance. I heard some of the speakers yesterday and today speaking about the need to have the Greek-Roman-Christian foundation. I fully agree, and I would even go a step beyond and say we urgently need a Classical Renaissance of the best traditions of Europe. The Classical Greek, the Italian contributions of Dante, of Petrarca, of the Council of Florence, of the Golden Renaissance in Italy; likewise the German Classical period of Bach to Beethoven, from Lessing to Schiller. These are such important ideas, and our young people have completely forgotten them, so we have to revive that and make it real. Furthermore, we have to have a cultural dialogue between the best traditions of Europe and the best traditions of China, of India, of Africa, of Latin America: Because only if we understand the other culture, if we start to discover the beauty of the poetry, of the music, then we start to love these other countries. That is the best medicine against any kind of chauvinism, or wrongly understood nationalism.

I have not heard Ursula von der Leyen, Olaf Scholz, Annalena Baerbock, or any of these people ever speaking about any beautiful idea of Europe. That is why they are completely unfit to save Europe at this point. I think we are in a minority, obviously, right now, but I think we have the vision. I have a vision where the world can be. We are at this point this close to thermonuclear war, which would be the annihilation of civilization. But we are also only this far away from making the jump to create the new world economic order in which all countries can live in a win-win position. It soon will become apparent that Europe has only one choice: Either go with NATO on the road to destruction, or join with the Global Majority towards a beautiful future. And I think this is what we have to make clear to people so that they understand the potential much better.