At our New Year's reception yesterday, we welcomed around 350 guests in a hall that was filled to capacity.
Our city association chairman Christian Horn-Heinemann gave a speech at the beginning of the evening in which he warned of a division in society due to international crises and the centres of war. However, he also focussed on the municipal level and the disenchantment with politics and administration in Kaarst. A deficit of 15 million euros in the municipal budget and many construction tasks required sovereign leadership positions and joint action by all political parties.
We were delighted to welcome Ambassador Christoph Heusgen as our guest speaker. The head of the Munich Security Conference appealed to the strength of our constitutional state and the resulting obligations. Diplomat Heusgen believes that Germany and Europe have a duty to take on more international responsibility. He spoke impressively about the global political situation, not without expressing optimism in addition to referring to the many crises.
More information on Christoph Heusgen's speech can be found here: CDU reception in Kaarst: Heusgen appeals to the strength of the rule of law (rp-online.de)
The Ambassador's speech was followed by a lively discussion with numerous participants!
Not only was Christoph Heusgen's speech rousing, but also the musical highlight of the morning: the Ukrainian-Russian duo, consisting of Natalya Vetrova and Dmitry Lavrov, delighted the audience with a mix of classical music and Russian-Ukrainian folk songs.
To summarise, it was a very successful morning and an outstanding start to the year 2024! We would like to thank all visitors, as well as our guest speaker and our music duo!