Deputy Secretary-General Shekerinska,

Ambassadors,

Assistant Secretaries General,

Generals and Admirals,

Friends and guests,

We are celebrating 3 October tonight. It is evidently not 3 October, but we are doing it anyway.

The third of October was, in fact, a rather more bureaucratic day. It was the day on which the Treaty on the Unification of Germany officially entered into force. In my memory, the truly emotional events that led up to reunification had already swept across Europe earlier, in the autumn and winter of 1989. Some of us still remember what we did and where we were in those days.

I have vivid memories of my student days in the small city of Bonn. On the evening of 20 December 1989, we were at a rather lively Christmas party with a group of friends when the eight o’clock evening news broke that the Wall at the Brandenburg Gate would be opened the following morning.

When the Wall had come down, I had to hand in a very important paper the following day, so I could not go. I have regretted it ever since.

So that night, we decided we needed to go. Given the character of that Christmas party, we had absolutely no designated driver, but we somehow managed. Eight hours later, we had arrived in Berlin in my old Volkswagen Beetle.

We were among the first to walk through the Brandenburg Gate, from West to East, for the first time, along Unter den Linden, and saw the other part of the city. When we returned that evening, thousands of people were standing on top of the Wall. A brass band was playing Christmas carols, and people were singing along.

Those were some of the very happy and emotional moments of reunification, later captured so beautifully in the Scorpions’ Wind of Change.

And in that very spirit, in that spirit of happiness, welcome to all of you to our celebration marking Day of German Unity.

The fall of the Berlin Wall and the peaceful reunification of Germany were possible because courageous people in what was then East Germany took to the streets, as people had already done in Poland, Hungary and elsewhere.

But, of course, Europe is not whole and free yet. This is the fifth time we are celebrating one of the most joyful days in our history while Ukraine is fighting a heroic fight for its freedom and unity.

I don't know whether Alyona is here. Alyona, I see you. Let me, as always, acknowledge the presence of our friend and colleague the Ukrainian Ambassador to NATO, Alyona Getmanchuk. This Alliance, and the friends gathered here today, will continue to stand firmly by your side, as I hope you know. We will do so for as long as it takes – and, as I learned from your Deputy Prime Minister today, with as much as it takes.

Our unification was fought for by the people, but it took more to make it happen. For decades, NATO has helped to protect us against Soviet aggression. This Alliance always stood steadfastly behind a divided Germany along NATO’s eastern flank and supported our aspiration to one day be reunited.

This is why, for Germany, I keep saying that today is also payback time. We are proud to have been a member of the NATO family for 71 years, and we intend to – and we will – assume our responsibility within the Alliance, alongside 31 great Allies. We will shoulder more of the burden. We will work for a stronger Europe and a stronger NATO, as we say. But at the same time, we want to make sure that this Alliance essentially remains transatlantic in structure, character and spirit.

Now, let us raise a glass: a toast to our Alliance, to the friendship between our nations and, of course, this evening, to a united Germany. I wish you all a very pleasant evening.