“Your commitment to a united Europe is inspiring and shows that our shared vision of peace, freedom and co-operation is still alive".
This is what Barbara Brunsing, Deputy Mayor of Dortmund, said about the visit of Leeds for Europe to their twin city of Dortmund.
In September 2023 Leeds for Europe made a two day visit to Leeds French twin city Lille where we spoke to French local politicians from an MEP to Lille city councillors and ordinary people from France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany at the city’s huge Grand Braderie .
This visit came as a result of work done by members of Leeds for Europe to rebuild relations with Leeds twin cities in the wake of Brexit, which is in turn part of ongoing work by the European Movement UK to rebuild links between UK Towns and Cities and their partners in Europe, in the face of a hostile environment led by our government.
As well as the work with Lille we had been working at building relations with Leeds German twin city Dortmund through Geoff Tranter, a Leeds Loiner who has lived in Dortmund for several years and who is chair of the Deutsch – Britishe Gesselleschaft (German – British Society) in the city.
After the success of our visit to Lille, Geoff invited us to visit Dortmund over the recent May Bank Holiday weekend to coincide with the Dortbunt festival, which included a large outdoor exhibition in the city’s Hansa Platz on Sunday that would provide an opportunity for a special Leeds for Europe street stall and to talk to ordinary people, an opportunity we were delighted to accept.
Our delegation travelled to Dortmund on Friday 3rd May. Two of the party travelled by car and experienced one of the great successes of the EU project, the open borders of the Schengen area. We drove through France, Belgium, the Netherlands and into northern Germany without even reducing speed. On arrival in Dortmund our group met up with Geoff Tranter and his wife Ilsa. We were also joined by Chris Hammond, chair of East Kent European Movement who lives part time in Wurzburg in Germany.
Saturday morning consisted of a walking tour of Dortmund, guided by Ilsa Tranter. More than 90% of the centre of Dortmund was destroyed by allied bombing in the Second World War, so it’s architecture is largely post war and a testament to German’s economic recovery after the war.
As part of the tour we visited the Dortmund City Hall, The Tremonia Hall and were officially welcomed by the deputy mayor Barbara Brunsing and given a tour of the council chambers. We were also delighted to present Deputy Mayor Brunsing with a personal letter from the Lord Mayor of Leeds Councillor Al Garthwaite and a fantastic book about the architecture of Leeds from Leeds City Council.
In the afternoon we went to the offices of the Auslandsgesellschaft which houses groups that deal with other countries such as the Deutsch – Britische Gesselleschaft, to meet their members and members of Europa-Union and the Europe Direct project. We were lucky to be spoken to by the SPD MEP candidate Tobias Cremer, despite his visible distress at the news that his colleague and fellow SPD MEP candidate Matthew Ecke had been assaulted and hospitalised in Dresden. Despite this, he spoke very warmly about the UK and his hope that the UK would rejoin the EU.
Recently, as part of their policy to “make Brexit work” the Labour Party has claimed that the EU might not want the UK back. Herr Cremer dispelled this theory very strongly. He told us that it was not a matter of economics or even offence at the UK’s attitude to Europe, it was important for the UK to rejoin the EU to ensure Europe’s solidarity in the face of Russian aggression and a possible Trump second term in the USA.
After Herr Cremer we were addressed by Klaus Wegener, President of the Auslandsgesellschaft and Leeds for Europe’s chair Richard Wilson followed by an informal discussion/Q&A about Brexit, the future and the possibility of the UK rejoining the EU with the mostly German audience. One comment that stuck with me was made by a lady who has family in the UK. She said “My family told me that the UK wanted to leave because people did not want to be ruled by Brussels. We Germans also do not want to be ruled by Brussels…and we are not.”
The discussions then continued over Yorkshire Tea and Scottish shortbread served by the Auslandsgesellschaft in an even more informal manner. Nothing was too much trouble to make us feel welcome!
Sunday was spent at the Dortbunt festival and our special street stall which was situated amongst the stalls of the Auslandsgesellschaft, Europa-Direct, Europe Direct and the Young European Federalists. This gave us the chance to speak to ordinary Germans. To break the ice we had our famous Brexitometer which asked;
- Was Brexit a good idea?
- Is membership of the EU good for Germany?
- Was Brexit bad for the EU?
- Has Britain’s reputation suffered because of Brexit?
- Would you agree to GB rejoining the EU?
We had a tremendous response. We spoke to many people, the vast majority thought Brexit was bad for the UK and the EU, that the EU was good for Germany and that Britain’s reputation had suffered because of Brexit. They were overwhelmingly in favour of the UK rejoining the EU…with one caveat. The majority said if the UK rejoins the EU it should be as full and active members, no rebates, no exemption from joining the Euro and the acceptance of Schengen, all which Leeds for Europe is campaigning for.
What have we achieved by these visits to Lille and Dortmund? First, as campaigners to rejoin the EU it is fantastic to speak to ordinary people in Europe and hear first-hand what they think, their positivity encourages us. It is good to be able to tell Europeans that most people in the UK now regret the decision to leave the EU and that there are large numbers of British people who still believe in the shared ideals of peace, freedom, and co-operation. Also, we have now received recognition from Leeds City Council for the first time since the referendum and hope to be able to develop that connection.
In June the European Movement UK are holding a Twinning Conference in Leeds and we are hoping the Leeds City Councillors will attend. One person who will be attending is our friend Geoff Tranter as we look to strengthen our ties with our European partners even more.
If you would like to get more of a feel for the visit to Dortmund and see some of the sights of Dortmund we have a short video available on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqvTSLRZ838
