EU solidarity needed more than ever, says Merkel in May 5 speech

In her Liberation Day address to the Netherlands, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the European Union must remain united to continue facing some of the biggest challenges the region has seen in over 75 years. She also thanked the Netherlands for forging a new relationship with Germany, saying that it was "Germany's eternal responsibility" to keep the memory of World War II alive.

During the May 5 speech on a video call from Berlin, she said she was honored to participate in the event which she considered symbolic of the friendship the two countries share. The keynote address on May 5 normally marks the beginning of the Liberation Day festivities. Merkel talked about the enormous losses suffered by the Netherlands during the Second World War and the courage of those who resisted.

In front of Westerbork concentration camp survivors who watched the speech live in the Netherlands, Merkle remarked that three quarters of the Jewish population in the Netherlands were killed under the Nazi regime - "more than in any other country in Western Europe". She said, "Nothing can erase the pain of the survivors of the concentration camps."

She also addressed the current coronavirus pandemic which prompted both countries to enforce some of the harshest restrictions seen in a very long time. "For the first time since the Second World War, fundamental freedoms are restricted to a degree that was beyond our imagination before the pandemic," she said.

According to her, those restrictions are only justified if they are temporary and protect human lives. To put an end to the pandemic, "European solidarity which is the result of a unique process of reconciliation and unification was needed more than ever," she concluded.

Chancellor Merkel, who is stepping down later this year after 16 years in office, was set to attend the last year’s ceremony that marked 75 years since the Netherlands was liberated in the second World War. The event was canceled in wake of the coronavirus pandemic.