Bernard-Henri Lévy: We Must Pay Our Debt to Bosnia

(Patria) - One month before the European Parliament elections, which many experts predict could show an increase in support for populist parties, French philosopher and writer Bernard-Henri Lévy is on a European tour during which he is trying to "find Europe". With his play "Looking for Europe", Lévy started from Milan at the beginning of March, and he is finishing the tour in Paris or, due to the events surrounding Brexit, in Britain. Sarajevo, which Lévy says carries the heritage of European civilization and multi-ethnicity, is one of the stops in his search for Europe.

"Looking for Europe" is the inner monologue of an intellectual who finds himself in a hotel room with 90 minutes to write a very important speech about Europe. The manifesto that Lévy wrote at the beginning of January this year, and which was signed by 29 other writers including Orhan Pamuk, Milan Kundera, Salman Rushdie, and Abdulah Sidran, warns that Europe is in danger and that it is now necessary to fight for the idea of Europe before it disappears in the waves of populism, is one of the tools of Lévy's 'fight' for the survival of a Europe of equality and democracy.

In an interview with Radio Free Europe, Lévy says that he has dedicated a large part of his life to distant corners, but that the fire is now in his homeland, in Europe. Lévy, who has previously advocated for Bosnia and Herzegovina's entry into the European Union and even initiated a petition, says that Europe needs to pay its debt to BiH and that entry would be mutually beneficial.

When asked by an RSE journalist why he is writing a monologue about the fate of Europe from Sarajevo, Lévy replies: "Because many things started in Sarajevo. Because Sarajevo is probably the heart and core of the crisis that Europe is facing today. Because the way we betrayed Sarajevo is probably one of the main reasons for the unease we can see in European civilization.

That is why my play emphasizes a French writer returning to Sarajevo, 25 years after the war, to write a speech about Europe and cannot write it."

"You will see in my play, there is a lot about Bosnia today, about nationalism, about the kind of Islam that is embodied, that is still embodied and must be embodied and personified in the future of Sarajevo. There will be a lot about that," said the French philosopher and writer.

With the observation that in light of the current rhetoric of the European Union, enlargement is no longer really in focus, and when asked if he sees a place for Bosnia in such a Europe, Lévy says that "we must fight for it."

"This is one of the main themes of the play. I explain in detail in the play, in the text, why it is good for Bosnia, but also why it is good for Europe and why it is a debt. Two things. We have a debt, we must pay our debt to Bosnia, pay it by organizing Bosnia's entry into the club. Even if it is not in the eurozone, etc. The Czech Republic is also not in the eurozone. But I also say that it would be a blessing for Europe to have Bosnia. A blessing for us, not just for Bosniaks. This is in the play. Come to the National Theatre in Sarajevo on May 13th and you will have all the arguments and all the details," says Bernard-Henri Lévy.