World leaders come together for celebrations
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Tuesday November 10 2009
BLACKED-out buses roared through the bustling streets of Berlin last night to the historic point where an insurmountable wall once stood.
On board the two buses were the Taoiseach Brian Cowen and his fellow political leaders.
Two decades after tearing down the 28-year-old Berlin Wall, thousands of Berliners, world leaders and political heavyweights gathered for reflection and celebration.
All descended on the capital in memory of the moment on November 9, 1989, at around 10pm, when East Germans began squeezing through checkpoints along the Berlin Wall and fell into the arms of strangers -- their West German neighbours on the other side.
On a day when Germans, tourists and politicians reminisced about their exact whereabouts when images were beamed around the world of the Berlin Wall being torn down, Mr Cowen could only remember being at home and being a backbencher. But the momentous nature of the occasion then and last night had not been lost on the Taoiseach.
Despite his obvious enthusiasm for reflecting on those historic events, those around him simply wanted to speculate on the discussions he would have with Chancellor Angela Merkel and his European counterparts.
Last night Berlin brought almost all the European leaders together to find consensus on the future European President and the portfolios of their European Commissioners.
However, Mr Cowen was refusing to divulge the inner workings of his mind.
"I'll give you 100 marks for trying," he said to the disappointed media, when repeatedly asked who Ireland's next European Commissioner would be.
While US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev took centre stage during the celebratory events, Mr Cowen took third row during the performance of the Staats Kapelle orchestra and lengthy political speeches.
- Aine Kerr in Berlin
Irish Independent
