Michael McGowan: A dynasty’s destiny and the European dream

Otto Von Habsburg, the oldest son of Austria-Hungary’s last emperor, died in his sleep last week in southern Germany at the age of 98 and will be buried in the Emperor Tomb below the Capuchin church in Vienna tomorrow. He was a colleague of mine throughout the 15 years I was an MEP.

As I enjoyed coffee and cake in a small café during a recent visit to Vienna, I marvelled at the grandeur and dignity of the city, the capital of the former Habsburg Empire, and could not get out of my mind the image of my former fellow MEP, the dignified and spritely Otto von Habsburg, treading the boards of the Parliament especially on Friday mornings of the Strasbourg week.

Otto von Habsburg was born in 1912 in what is now Austria, the oldest son of Austria-Hungary’s last emperor, and has lived in Bavaria in exile since the 1950s. The Habsburg Empire was dismantled and Austria became a republic following the First World War.

He was a member of the European Parliament for the conservative Bavarian Christian Social Union from 1979 to 1999 and president of the Pan-European League from 1979 to 1999.

It was on Friday mornings in Strasburg, when Otto was a frequent speaker in the European Parliament, that the elderly German MEP and last head of the Habsburg Empire was back in charge of Europe and he relished it.

Many MEPs often cleared off and left Strasbourg before the Friday morning sessions of the Parliament. They missed, however, the opportunity to hear the words and observe the presence of the last of the Habsburgs on his feet.

Otto was a classic gentleman figure of his generation, smartly dressed in a well cut suit with waistcoat, dignified but not pompous, and always courteous to his fellow MEPs including myself despite our often different political allegiances. And for a period we were both members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament and at one with our views on the importance of European co-operation.

Among the Habsburg anecdotes that did the rounds in the European Parliament was about the occasion he was asked who he wanted to win an Austria Hungary football match and his response was: “Who are we playing?”

Although he had lived in southern Germany for many years, the venue for the burial of Otto von Habsburg has to be Vienna, the capital of the former Habsburg Empire and always the beacon of music and culture not only back in the days of Mozart and Beethoven but in so many ways today.

The architecture of this magnificent city befits the status and glory of the former capital of the Habsburg Empire and the Habsburg presence still dominates the style and shape of Vienna, which was the capital of an empire which ruled Europe for more than 600 years.

To have marvelled at the grandeur of the architecture and buildings of Vienna and to have had Otto von Habsburg as a fellow MEP has increased my long standing interest in European history and the influence of the Habsburgs in Europe.

The presence of Otto von Habsburg, the last of the Habsburg dynasty, as an MEP symbolised centuries of European history and evoked the dreams and aspirations of political leaders over the centuries for a One Europe and a European Empire, of politicians including Julius Caesar and Hadrian of Rome, William the Conqueror, Napoleon, Bismarck, Hitler, Churchill and the Habsburgs themselves.

Almost from the first days after his father’s death in 1922, at the age of 10, Otto has born the burden of the Habsburg dynasty. He managed to survive the Depression and the war, he avoided capture by the Nazis, and worked hard for the restoration of a free Austria. And a generation of Austrians looked to him as their leader.

His vision was broader than Austria, and after the Second World War he became a strong advocate of European union, east and west, partly through the European Economic Community, now the European Union, but more recently active in the Pan-European League. He wrote a sheaf of books and articles that have advocated the cause of European unity for more than 40 years.

With Europe today lacking political leadership and the future of the euro and the EU itself in some disarray, the passing of Otto Von Habsburg is a good time to reflect on the history of Europe – both triumphs and horrors – and to question whether Britain can do better than the negative input of David Cameron and the timid stance of the Labour leadership in meeting the challenges of Europe.

Michael McGowan is the former Labour MEP for Leeds and president of the Development Committee of the European Parliament.