From Kant to Kyiv: Europe’s Long Struggle for Order

A Review of the Lecture by Ambassador Colin Munro CMG
on “Anniversaries For Peace”

Wednesday, 12 November 2025 at Café Ministerium
(Photos: © Wolfgang Geissler, Wolfgang Menth-Chiari)

By Wolfgang Geissler

Café Ministerium, Vienna – 12 November 2025

Only five days earlier, in the elegant setting of Café Ministerium, Dr Stefan Kieslinger had taken us on a journey through the frontiers of human imagination — from the mapping of the brain to the metaphysics of creativity. With Ambassador Colin Munro CMG, our focus turned outward again: from the inner world of thought to the outer world of history and diplomacy. Yet both lectures shared a common concern — the fragile balance between freedom and order, vision and responsibility — whether in the workings of the mind or in the concert of nations.

PART I — The Broader Framework: Anniversaries for Peace

The Austro-British Society’s November lecture invited members to reflect on Europe’s long, uneven and often precarious journey toward peace. The year 2025 brings together a remarkable constellation of anniversaries that prompt such reflection:

  • 80 years since the end of the Second World War
  • 70 years since the Austrian State Treaty
  • 50 years since the Helsinki Final Act
  • 30 years since the Dayton Agreement
  • 230 years since Kant’s Perpetual Peace (1795)

These milestones mark not only the end of conflicts but the foundations of modern Europe — efforts across generations to build peace through law, cooperation, democratic legitimacy and the rule of law.

PART II — Introduction by Ambassador Dr Alexander Christiani

The evening opened with welcoming remarks by Ambassador Dr Alexander Christiani, who moderated the event and offered a warm and elegant introduction to our speaker. He recalled first meeting Ambassador Colin Munro in the 1980s, when Munro served as Deputy Head of the Western European Department in London — “quite an important position,” he noted, “between 1985 and 1987,” with responsibility for Austria.

Ambassador Dr Christiani then traced Ambassador Munro’s distinguished diplomatic career: postings in Bonn, Bucharest and Kuala Lumpur; Deputy Head of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires in East Berlin during the fall of the Wall; Consul General in Frankfurt; Ambassador to Croatia; Deputy High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina; and finally, the United Kingdom’s Permanent Representative to the OSCE in Vienna.

With typically dry humour, Ambassador Dr Christiani recalled his own time in Berlin: driving a conspicuous blue Mercedes with the diplomatic plate B–999, crossing between East and West. On one such crossing, a stern NVA border guard asked:

“Weapons? Explosives? Drugs?”

His reply —

“I didn’t know you needed these things in the German Democratic Republic.”

— nearly earned him an arrest, thwarted only by diplomatic immunity. After a long pause, the guard simply said:

“Go on.”

Ambassador Dr Christiani then introduced the theme of the evening, outlining the major anniversaries of 2025 and reflecting on the enduring effort to use cooperation — especially economic cooperation — to secure peace in Europe. This approach, he noted, has succeeded remarkably well among the 27 EU member states and their closest neighbours, including the United Kingdom.

He paused, then added with a wry smile:

“Isn’t it regrettable that we now have to say ‘neighbours including the UK’? They should really still belong to us.”

He briefly touched upon the economic cost of Brexit — citing recent estimates of a six-percent loss to UK GDP — before warmly inviting Ambassador Colin Munro CMG to deliver his lecture Anniversaries for Peace.

PART III — Ambassador Colin Munro’s Lecture

A Diplomat’s Perspective — Delivered with Wit and Authority

Ambassador Munro opened with the acerbic humour for which he is known:

“Communists do not have a sense of humour.”

The anecdote that followed — a joke long circulated among Eastern-bloc diplomats — served not merely as entertainment but as an overture to a lecture rich in historical clarity, institutional insight, and personal experience.

To illustrate his point, Ambassador Munro recalled one of the infamous Cold War jokes that circulated behind the Iron Curtain. It asked why the Warsaw Pact was considered such a “remarkable success.”

The answer?

Because of the exceptional qualities of its member states:

  • the universal utility of the Hungarian language,
  • Romanian honesty,
  • Bulgarian intelligence,
  • Czech courage,
  • Polish managerial skill,
  • and, above all — the East German sense of humour.

Ambassador Munro then turned to the theme of the evening. As Ambassador Dr Christiani had outlined in his introduction, this lecture concerned the many anniversaries falling in 2025 — moments in history when states sought to restore peace and stability after conflict.

Munro posed the guiding question:

“What can we learn from these anniversaries today?”

Anniversaries as a Moral Arc of European History

Ambassador Munro presented the anniversaries not as a list but as a moral geography of Europe:

  • Kant’s Perpetual Peace (1795) — philosophical baseline of peaceful order
  • Congress of Vienna (1815) — a century-long “concert system”
  • Paris Treaties (1919–20) — peace undermined by humiliation
  • End of WWII (1945) — foundation of the UN and modern security structures
  • Schuman Declaration (1950) — reconciliation through economic integration
  • Charter of Paris (1990) — formal end of the Cold War
  • Austrian State Treaty (1955) — Austria’s rebirth as a sovereign democracy

Each one, he argued, represented an attempt to answer a single question:
How can states achieve lasting peace?

Austria’s Neutrality — Achievement and Illusion

Ambassador Munro praised Austria’s transformation since 1955 — a stable democracy, social market prosperity, and 30 years of EU membership. But he offered a pointed warning:

“Neutrality, as it is still celebrated today, has become an illusion.”

In an age of cyber operations and hybrid warfare, neutrality offers no real protection. Among neighbours, Austria is increasingly perceived as a security free rider, benefitting from a system to which it contributes too little.

Russia, Ukraine, and the Erosion of the Rules-Based Order

Ambassador Munro then addressed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:

  • A flagrant breach of the UN Charter
  • The tragic failure of the Budapest Memorandum
  • The OSCE’s paralysis under Russian obstruction

He illustrated the shift in Russia’s posture through an anecdote:

Putin once asked NATO’s Lord Robertson,

“When will NATO invite Russia to join?”

but refused to apply as other states must — he would not “stand in line with countries that did not count.”

Yugoslavia — Hard Lessons from a Collapsed Order

Ambassador Munro’s personal recollections from Bosnia were among the most moving:

  • Mostar as a “mini-Stalingrad”
  • Two schools under one roof — children separated not by ideology but by furniture
  • Visible hostility even at the signing of the Dayton Agreement

His conclusion was stark:

Dayton ended the war — but did not secure the peace.

Europe Learns Slowly — But It Learns

Ambassador Munro concluded with three lessons:

  1. Peace must include former adversaries (1815, 1945).
  2. Prosperity stabilises democracy.
  3. Europe must defend what it has built.

His forward-looking message was both realistic and hopeful:

“When — as we must hope — Russia stops trying to annihilate Ukraine, we must find ways to include Russia in a revived Concert of Europe.”

PART IV — Ambassador Dr Christiani’s Response, the Q&A, and Final Words

A Refined Reflection on Neutrality

Ambassador Dr Christiani began by thanking Ambassador Munro for “a fascinating lecture,” noting that he himself had learned several new things — even after decades in diplomacy.

He then expanded on Austria’s neutrality:

  • Joining the UN in 1955 contradicted the legal advice of the time
  • Serving on the UN Security Council in 1973 contradicted similar warnings
  • During the Gulf War, Austria allowed British tanks to transit —
    “Solidarity before neutrality.”

With characteristic frankness, he added:

“I am not personally an advocate of neutrality.”

If neutrality were ever abandoned — unlikely today — the logical alternative would be NATO membership.

The Q&A — Four Questions, Four Insights

  1. Was neutrality imposed by the Soviets?

Ambassador Munro: Yes — neutrality was essential to the State Treaty, but also part of a Soviet strategy to weaken NATO by encouraging West German neutrality.

Ambassador Dr Christiani: Early neutrality restrictions have disappeared.

  1. Does the EU have an Article 5 equivalent?

Ambassador Dr Christiani: Yes — Article 42(7) obliges mutual assistance.
A decisive step toward a genuine European Defence Union.

  1. Do peace treaties sow future wars? Did Yalta cause the Cold War?

Ambassador Munro: Versailles failed; Yalta did not “give away” Eastern Europe.

Stalin’s armies dictated political order. Poland was truly freed only in 1989.

  1. Why did the Budapest Memorandum fail?

Ambassador Munro: Ukraine surrendered the ultimate deterrent.
“Can anyone imagine Russia attacking a nuclear-armed Ukraine?”
Ambassador Dr Christiani: Ukraine’s resilience may not be enough.

  1. What is the future of the rules-based order?

Ambassador Munro: It is eroding; China is the geopolitical winner; the US appears inconsistent.

Yet Europe remains a beacon of peace, democracy, and the rule of law.

Final Words — A Trademark Thank-You and a Churchillian Maxim

Ambassador Dr Christiani concluded with warmth and characteristic appreciation:

“I think it was an intellectual and political feast for all of us.”

“And ladies and gentlemen, you were really lucky as members of the ABS to have the chance to hear foremost experts as Ambassador Colin Munro.”

“Thank you for coming. Thank you for listening.”

This trademark expression of gratitude was followed by a final reflection from Winston Churchill, perfectly suited to the evening’s theme:

“The further back you look, the further forward you can see.” — Winston Churchill

A fitting close to an evening that combined historical memory, diplomatic realism, and a renewed call to defend Europe’s fragile peace.

Epilogue — What Else?

After this true intellectual tour de force — compellingly delivered by Ambassador Colin Munro and Ambassador Dr Alexander Christiani and enriched by the thoughtful questions of our members — Café Ministerium treated us to a delightful flying dinner, accompanied by a most generous pour of wine. It was a fitting and convivial conclusion to an evening that combined insight, history, diplomacy and the best traditions of the Austro-British Society.

What else?

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