• Ursula von der Leyen receives the Aachen delegation at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels.
• She accepts the prize "for all those who work for Europe with great passion and energy and who are also making Europe fit for the next generation".
• The Charlemagne Prize will be awarded on Ascension Day, May 29, 2025, in the Coronation Hall of Aachen City Hall.

In bright sunshine on Saturday, February 1, a delegation from Aachen presented the Charlemagne Prize 2025 to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at the European Commission's headquarters in Brussels. "I am delighted," were von der Leyen's first words at the warm reception in the light-flooded office on Boulevard Charlemagne, before she received a Charlemagne Seal from Aachen's Lord Mayor Sibylle Keupen and then a book commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Charlemagne Prize from Dr. Jürgen Linden, Chairman of the Charlemagne Prize Board of Directors. "I have the feeling that I am accepting the prize on behalf of all those who work for Europe with great passion and energy and who are also making Europe fit for the next generation," said the designated Charlemagne Prize winner.

"We decided unanimously because we believe that you have the strategic leadership role in Europe and we want to strengthen you in this," explained Dr. Jürgen Linden at the short reception, which he attended together with Mayor Sibylle Keupen, Thomas Prefi, Spokesman of the Board of the Charlemagne Prize Foundation, the Managing Director of the Charlemagne Prize Foundation, Bernd Vincken, and Head of Protocol Claudia Wellen from Aachen. "We are proud of the fact that citizens of Aachen launched the prize eighty years ago and believed in Europe even back then. We therefore have a historic responsibility to steer the ship Europe through storms and rain, even in difficult times," said Keupen at the presentation of the Charlemagne Seal.

There is no question that Aachen Printen must also be present. In keeping with the printed motto "Printe gut, alles gut", Aachen's Head of Protocol Claudia Wellen hands them over before the group retreats behind closed doors to discuss details such as the program items in Aachen and which charitable purposes the one million euros in project prize money associated with the Charlemagne Prize could be used for. The prize money is being awarded for the first time this year to provide funding for new or existing pro-European projects throughout Europe so that they are successful and can promote the European Union and its ideas.

Statement by the Charlemagne Prize Board of Directors

With the President of the European Commission, Dr. Ursula von der Leyen, the Board of Directors of the Society for the Conferring of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen 2025 honors in the year of its 75th anniversary "an outstanding leader of the United Europe, who leads the Union through a time of profound transformations with vision, courage and strong action, with determination and foresight." The citation also states that the Charlemagne Prize Board of Directors wishes to encourage and strengthen Ursula von der Leyen with the award "to represent the EU as a significant force in the global political world, to lead it as a peacemaking, democratizing and partnership-based power, to strengthen Europe as a society of values and to ensure, through improved competitiveness, that the great peace project of Europe can also keep its promise of economic and social well-being for its citizens".

By awarding the Charlemagne Prize 2025 to the President of the Commission, the Board of Directors emphasizes "that Ursula von der Leyen and the Commission she leads have played a decisive role in ensuring that the EU has faced crises of epochal proportions with unity and success". Ursula von der Leyen is aware that transatlantic cohesion is necessary for Europe's economic security. Following changes to the political structures in the United States, this now required a special strategic effort on the part of Europeans. The most important prerequisite for this was the unity of the members. She is fighting for this unity like no other.

This year, the Charlemagne Prize will once again be traditionally awarded on Ascension Day, May 29.

Information on the Charlemagne Prize

The International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen is considered one of the most important European prizes. Since 1950, it has been awarded to individuals and institutions who have rendered outstanding services to the unification of Europe. Previous recipients include Konrad Adenauer (1954), King Juan Carlos I of Spain (1982), Francois Mitterand and Helmut Kohl (1988), Václav Havel (1991), US President Bill Clinton (2000), Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker (2006), German Chancellor Angela Merkel (2008), Pope Francis (2016), French President Emmanuel Macron (2018) and UN Secretary-General António Guterres (2019). In 2022, the Belarusian civil rights activists Maria Kalesnikava, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Veronica Tsepkalo were awarded the prize, in 2023 the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selensky and the Ukrainian people and in 2024 Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt and the Jewish communities in Europe. In March 2004, Pope John Paul II received an extraordinary Charlemagne Prize, which was awarded in Rome.

More information: www.aachen.de/karlspreis and www.karlspreis.de