Speech by President von der Leyen at the award ceremony of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen

 

"(...) 

A new international order will emerge in this decade. If we do not want to simply accept the consequences this will have for Europe and the world, we must shape this new order. History does not forgive either dithering or delaying. Our mission is European independence. 

(...) 

The third place I want to talk about is this very town hall we are in today. Here, 75 years ago, the European pioneer Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi was the first to be awarded the Charlemagne Prize medal. He also had a vision of Europe: a Europe bringing people together through shared culture and values, through freedom and human dignity. A Europe inspired by big ideas and big ambitions.

(...) 

It is our mission to ensure that people feel that our individual traditions and identities are part of a larger whole. And that precisely this is the core of our European identity. Another winner of the Charlemagne Prize, the brilliant Timothy Garton Ash, once wrote: ‘Identity is a mix of the cards we are dealt, but also what we make of them.' So we can choose to focus on what sets us apart. Or we can make our differences the foundation for a stronger European home. 

Weave our different stories into a common future. We are all proud children of our countries. But our roots do not stop at national borders. Our souls have been shaped by the tales and experiences of our fellow Europeans. We are not only Italian, French or German. 

Not only Swedish or Spanish. Not only Portuguese or Polish. We are European. This empathy, this solidarity, this culture. This is what makes us Europeans. And this is what makes me look to the future of our Union with resolve and optimism. This is the legacy we must pass on to our children. Because we have inherited it from those who went before us. And it is up to us to make it our independent Europe. I feel incredibly honoured to receive this Charlemagne Prize."

PS1: Excerpt of the book "Pratical Idealism", from Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, founder of the Pan-European Union:

"The man of the future will be of mixed race. Today's races and classes will gradually disappear owing to the vanishing of space, time, and prejudice. The Eurasian-Negroid race of the future, similar in its appearance to the Ancient Egyptians, will replace the diversity of peoples with a diversity of individuals." 

PS2: The first winner of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen was Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi in 1950