UNDERTAKINGS OF THE FOUNDATION SINCE THE BEGIN OF THE FINANCIAL CRISIS2010-03-29 13:35:27
There is a rich documentation, most of it in German language, to be found in the German language part of this web-site. A complete translation into English is actually beyond the possibilities of Baltic Sea Foundation.
Only one, the first, document is in English. It was adressed (in July, last year) to Haapsalu (Estonia) College, a branch of Tallinn University, containing a proposal for a discussion forum on possible ways out of the crisis. The College committed the mistake, to address exclusively financial sector specialists. These did not react positively because their sole aim is to win new funds to be able to continue – right or wrong – as before, Alternative approaches, especially such which aim at supporting society or civic communities, is far beyond what they can imagine or what they intend.
Nevertheless, the foundation has applied the lesson learned from this frustrated first step. It saw that back-ward looking has to organised before solutions for the needs of our days and for the future can be envisaged.
The writer of these lines interviewed university historians in Estonia, Lativa and Germany (all of them listet in the German version of the web-site) and wrote a sketch for using the written heritage of the most prominent scholarly society in the Baltic region for drawing from it orientations for the solutions of the problems of to-day and to-morrow.
It is the LIVONIAN COMMON WEAL AND ECONOMIC SOCIETY (German original name: LIVLAENDISCHE GEMEINNUETZIGE UND OEKONOMISCHE SOZIETAET) which was erected in the times of the French Revolution (1792). It was re-habilated after sufferings during the Napoleonic wars and transferred at the end of the first decade of the 19th century to the Livonian university town of Tartu (Dorpat), from where it operated – through good and bad times – until 1940.
The historians, unanimously, welcomed the proposal. But at the same time, they argued that among them, no economic history specialist can be found. Nevertheless, they would like to co-operate with a group of practicians and searchers with the necessary back-ground.
After this, a concise, frank and sharp paper was prepared, after pre-liminary exchanges, for the German-Baltic Parlamentarians Groups of the German Federal Parliament and that of the Land of North Rhine-Westalia which intends to mobilize, with the help of one or the other of the members of these groupings, intellectual collaboration from appropriate bodies in the Rhenanian or the Westphalian region. Nothing has happened so far. The major impediment – certainly – is the actual electoral campaign for the new Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. In spite of this, the paper was useful for other contacts.
Finally, the President of the Republic of Estonia was addressed with a (well documented) request to open the access to public or private authorities of his country and of neighboring Latvia. The President’s office answered, some weeks ago, that the President would abstain from interfering with governmental and non-governmental bodies; he proposed that the foundation should address the government of his country; this has been done (with full documentation); an answer has not yet arrived.