At a reception in Hamburg City Hall, Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon emphasized the “common Hanseatic spirit” of Hamburg and Norway.
“The North Sea has always been Norway’s highway to Europe, and Hamburg was our gateway to the world. And still is,” said the 50-year-old in front of around 550 people in the large ballroom. “Not just because of the city’s location. Hamburg and Norway also share a common, Hanseatic, entrepreneurial spirit and we have similar ambitions,” said the Crown Prince. “We strive for value creation, social welfare and a good life for our citizens.”
The Crown Prince had previously been received by a few people in front of Hamburg City Hall. Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) then welcomed the 50-year-old. “Hamburg and Norway have been close economic partners since the Hanseatic League,” said Tschentscher. “Today Germany is Norway’s third largest import partner in the world.” Representatives from Hamburg’s economy, politics, culture and society, as well as Norwegians who live in the Hanseatic city, were invited to the reception in the large ballroom.
On the second day of his visit to Germany, Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon first dealt with the topics of armaments and defense in Munich, before turning to literature and therefore climate change in the afternoon. The 50-year-old then went on to Hamburg before the four-day trip ended in Berlin on Thursday.
Haakon thanks Germany
The politically turbulent times ran like a common thread through the Crown Prince’s conversations and appointments in Munich. “German friends, thank you for your commitment to ensuring European security and for your steadfast leadership in difficult times,” said Haakon this morning at an arms policy forum in Munich. The Crown Prince pointed out that Germany and Norway, as NATO partners, were increasing their defense cooperation in view of the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Norwegian Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram also said Norway was increasing its defense spending because the security situation had changed. The country is giving Ukraine eight older Leopard 2 tanks and has ordered 54 new Leopard 2 tanks from Krauss-Maffei Wegmann – Haakon also paid a visit to the Munich-based company.
The afternoon, however, was dedicated to Norwegian literature. It was as quiet as a mouse when the participants rose from their seats in the packed library of the Munich Literaturhaus, while Haakon entered the hall in a fjord blue suit. Before listening to a literary conversation between the Norwegian writer Maja Lunde (“The Story of the Bees”) and the author Dag Olav Hessen, who deal, among other things, with the consequences of climate change and the loss of biodiversity, he emphasized the power in powerful words of literature and its significance for the present.
Concern about the wars in Ukraine and Gaza
“In times of conflict between countries, people and ideas, literature can represent a different, a powerful form of communication with each other,” said Haakon. “Good literature can increase our empathy and understanding of other people who are different from ourselves.” Good literature can open the mind and help to overcome boundaries.
In a small group, he then emphasized his dismay at the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. It worries him to see what is happening there and it is a great challenge how the international community can respond together.
In Hamburg on Wednesday, the Crown Prince will give a speech at an economic conference at the Chamber of Commerce. The topics will be energy, infrastructure and shipping. In the afternoon, an economic and political harbor tour is on the agenda before Haakon takes the train to Berlin.
There he meets Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who was on sick leave for a few weeks in late summer due to a chronic lung disease. “It’s much nicer to travel together and I really like working with her,” said Haakon. In the capital on Thursday they will attend a commemoration ceremony for November 9th, the day the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. At the end of Haakon’s four-day trip to Germany, visits to Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Bellevue Palace and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the Chancellery are planned.
