Ladies and Gentlemen I am extremely pleased to welcome you to the Coronation Hall of our City Hall and warmly welcome you to the award ceremony of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen 2022 to the Belarusian civil rights activists, the imprisoned Maria Kalesnikava, who is represented today by her sister Tatsiana Khomich, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Veronica Tsepkalo. We are very honored that Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is with us in Aachen and will give the laudatory speech for our award winners. We welcome the President of the European Parliament, Her Excellency, Ms. Roberta Metsola, and the President of the German Bundestag, Ms. Bärbel Bas. We welcome the President of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, Mr. André Kuper.
A warm welcome to the former laureate, Dr. Dalia Grybauskaitė, and the former laureates Martin Schulz and Timothy Garton Ash.
We welcome the representatives of the diplomatic corps, including Your Excellencies the Ambassadors of the French Republic, the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Malta, the Italian Republic, the Republic of Lithuania and the German Ambassador to Belarus.
A warm welcome also to the many representatives of the European Union and the European institutions.
We welcome the President of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, Mr. Karl-Heinz Lambertz, as well as the Members of the European Parliament, the Bundestag and the Landtag.
We are delighted to welcome the representatives of the churches and religious communities, including the President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Dr. Josef Schuster, and Bishop Dieser.
A warm welcome also to you, former Minister President Jürgen Rüttgers and former Minister President Armin Laschet, Minister Holthoff-Pförtner and Minister Pfeiffer-Poensgen from our state government.
When the Board of Directors of the Society for the Conferring of the International Charlemagne Prize decided to award these three outstanding personalities last autumn, the world was a different place ... Even then, we were already facing enormous challenges - be it due to the pandemic, which has still not been overcome, the threatening approach of climate change or the disagreements within the European community of states regarding its future direction ...
By awarding the International Charlemagne Prize 2020/2021 to Klaus Iohannis, a "mediator and bridge builder between Western and Eastern European societies", an important signal was sent: To prevent the dangerous drift towards national thinking - to serve as a role model with a united voice in an increasingly disunited world - but also to preserve the European idea, which has survived all manner of crises, setbacks and disputes in recent decades.
And it is precisely this idea - the preservation of the European idea - that is at the heart of this year's award ceremony, which also represents a turning point for the International Charlemagne Prize itself.
For the first time in its history, a European movement from the people that is resisting an autocratic system has been honored. With the courageous and political decision to honor the Belarusian opposition, the Board of Directors intervenes and clearly takes sides: for a Europe of freedom and democracy. The proclamation of 1949 reads:
"Since the progress of mankind has always come from individual personalities of genius who, despite all opposition, have devoted themselves entirely to their ideas, it must be useful and beneficial to point to these men as role models, to call on them to imitate them and to put their ideas into practice."
It is therefore certainly in the spirit of the founding fathers that the International Charlemagne Prize should above all be a sign of solidarity and support for Maria Kalesnikava, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Veronica Tsepkalo and their work.
For these three women, along with countless others in Belarus, stand up "despite all opposition" for "what is at the heart of the European project: human rights, peace and freedom, the rule of law, democracy and solidarity."
As the explanatory statement goes on to say, the award is also intended to "send a signal to a weary European society to once again stand up with conviction and militancy for the European values that have been fought for over centuries and which are now threatened by the global struggle for profit and supremacy, but also by the indifference of many citizens themselves."
The Charlemagne Prize is a tribute to her courageous commitment to overcoming dictatorship and to a democratic awakening in Belarus ...
At the same time, it is a reminder, an appeal, a warning - to us all. A reminder of what we have already achieved in Europe.
A call to remember our common values and to stand up for them. A reminder to be vigilant and to fight for freedom and democracy ... And not to rest on the status quo.
Because, if we are honest with ourselves, that is exactly what we have done. After more than 75 years in which we have been able to live in peace in an ever freer, ever more open Europe, in which deprivation has steadily decreased and prosperity has increased in equal measure - in short, in which "everything got better and better" - this is probably all too human. Not to be aware of the freedoms and privileges we enjoy every day.
Not to ask ourselves how we actually want to live together - be it in the city, the country, Europe or ultimately the whole world.
You could say that when the Executive Board made this far-sighted and correct decision last autumn, most people in Europe simply didn't need to think about it at all. Because it did not affect their everyday lives. Because, as mentioned at the beginning, there were enough other challenges to overcome.
But above all, because there was no concrete threat to life as we know it.
All this has changed abruptly as a result of the brutal Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. While we in Western Europe believed ourselves to be deceptively safe, the sensors of people in Eastern Europe were alarmed much earlier. Today there is war in Europe. Democracy cannot be taken for granted, it has to be fought for and defended every day.
In autocratic states, civil society is an important counterweight: we would like to dedicate today's award to the courageous forces that stand up against arbitrariness, oppression and human rights violations and, for the moment, use our opportunities to bring them to the attention of the international public.
Maria Kalesnikava, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Veronica Tsepkalo are a light in dark times. Their faces and their names stand for countless people who are fighting for their values, their lives and their future in many countries around the world, even at this very moment, and who are being subjected to unimaginable state repression.
These people need our support.
More than ever. Since the Second World War and especially after the end of the Cold War, we have seen a triumph of democracy. Nevertheless, we are currently seeing a new rise of autocratic systems in the world.
Every day we are shockingly reminded that there are forces in this world that do not share our values. Instead of democracy, freedom and the rule of law, they rely on state despotism, oppression and the violation of basic human rights. They are even prepared to attack a country without any legal basis - simply because its people have decided to take a different, independent, self-determined path.
In doing so, they are also making a blatant threat to all those who want to follow a similar path to Ukraine.
We all need to understand that this war is about much more than a dispute between two states.
What is currently happening in Ukraine and thus in the immediate vicinity of the European Union - right on our doorstep - and bringing unbearable suffering to the people, is a very real threat to life as we know it.
Nothing less than the freedom of all of us is under attack here.
The democracy movement in Belarus is being massively suppressed. Leading figures have been given long prison sentences. Others had no choice but to go into exile. And yet Maria Kalesnikava, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Veronica Tsepkalo succeeded in uniting the opposition and challenging those in power. Alexander Lukashenko was able to stay in power through violence and repression. This time ... still.
But in the end, democracy, freedom and self-determination will prevail.
We learn from Belarus: if we want to preserve our democratic achievements, each and every one of us must be prepared to fight for them.
In the media, we see images every day that are frighteningly similar to those of the destroyed Europe after the Second World War. There is war on our doorstep.
This war unsettles us all, creating a feeling of powerlessness, resignation - and great concern. For all of us.
I too am very worried about the future of our country, our children, our grandchildren.
But I also have great confidence.
Confidence in us, the people and governments of Europe and our willingness, proven many times over since the Second World War, to find solutions together despite all our differences and to stand up for the European idea.
We can do it.
We are proving this not only here and now in Aachen.
It is the people here on the ground who live Europe every day. It is precisely these people who, even in the current situation, show what Europe is all about, both on a small and large scale. The outstanding willingness to help in the reception of people seeking protection from Ukraine, the solidarity shown everywhere and the way Europeans are moving closer together give me confidence that we will also master the challenges that lie ahead of us "on a large scale".
This form of "living Europe" gives us hope at this time. Perhaps we need to remind ourselves more consciously of how a common and constantly reshaped idea has grown over the course of history from a continent divided into countless individual interests into the Europe we know today.
More and more young people are obviously aware of this and are actively and courageously involved in political processes. This is not always an easy path, as we all know. They have long recognized that democratic systems are under threat, that nation-state thinking is returning and that profit-oriented economic growth and climate change are threatening their future.
They are getting involved out of absolute conviction. Because they have realized that it is worthwhile, that they are not powerless - and because they want to actively shape their future.
That also gives me hope. In addition to the impressive "living Europe" of the citizens and the commitment of the young people, it is above all our award winners today, Maria Kalesnikava, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Veronica Tsepkalo, who have shown us once again in a completely different way what each and every one of us can do.
We can learn from them. They are a strong role model for us.
Before they became heroes of our time and of the political struggle, the three current leading figures of the democratic Belarusian opposition were "ordinary citizens". They got involved because they cared about something that we all share with them: The desire for a life in freedom.
This desire was so strong that they "with their resolute and fearless commitment ... have become an important role model for the democratic struggle for freedom not only for hundreds of thousands of compatriots, but also far beyond the Belarusian border", as the citation states. "Their messages are stirring, their sacrifices unprecedented. They are a signal to our own Belarusian society to take their fate into their own hands."
With this in mind, I would like to encourage us all to take our fate more strongly into our own hands again.
We need personalities like Maria Kalesnikava, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Veronica Tsepkalo right now - as role models, as shining examples that we can follow.
And so, despite all the horror and terror we are currently experiencing, we can also draw hope. The war has also led to a new level of maturity in Europe. We are not just an economic community, we are a true community of values.
After the attack on Ukraine, Ukrainian flags flew in town halls across Europe and citizens gathered in large peace demonstrations.
The European idea is lived by the people.
It is our duty and responsibility - especially to future generations - not to leave the decision of how we want to live to anyone else.
It is in our hands.
Thank you very much!
Recording of the award ceremony (WDR-Mediathek)
18.11.2022