On the picture Norbert Kartmann, Speaker of the Hessian State Assembly; Lucia Puttrich Hessian Minister of State for Federal and European Affairs; Federica Mogherini – High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy; Karl Starzacher, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hessian Peace Prize, ret. Minister of State.
By the Board of Trustees – Albert Osswald Fondation
Last 19 July 2017, The Hessian Peace Prize 2016 was awarded at the Representation of the State of Hesse in Brussels to the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini.
Speaker of the Hessian State Assembly Norbert Kartmann was pleased that the award ceremony was taking place in Brussels. “This is the right place to be awarding this prize to a European who is harnessing the positive influence of the EU in tackling the widest range of different problem areas at international level as the EU’s representative”. This place symbolised the importance of the laureate as a person, of her task and her radius of political action, he continued.
“In the face of the many challenges in the world, as High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, you give the European Union a voice that is heard. Thanks to your mediation, it was possible to secure the breakthrough in the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear programme that many had thought impossible. In Ukraine, Syria, Libya and other flash points, too, you champion democracy, human rights and the rule of law. These are values which epitomise Europe and make our community strong. So it is only right that you are being awarded the Hessian Peace Prize“, said Lucia Puttrich, Hessian Minister of State for Federal and European Affairs, in her laudatory speech to the laureate.
The former Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and now the EU’s top diplomat gave the EU a strong voice in world politics, Lucia Puttrich continued, and imparted fundamental European values with tact and assertiveness throughout the world, contributing decisively to harmonising relations with Europe’s neighbouring countries.
In June last year, Federica Mogherini set five priorities defining the thrust of the new global strategy of the European Union – security, the resilience of states and societies in the East and South of the EU, an integrated approach to conflict resolution, cooperative regional structures and global governance for the 21st century. In doing so, she is focussing her foreign policy more on soft power, pragmatism and tailored solutions as well as regional governance.
“I am very honoured to receive this prize, which above all pays tribute to the European Union as a force for peace, democracy and international cooperation. The nuclear agreement with Iran was the result of courage, political leadership and wisdom; it showed the role that diplomacy can assume in order to resolve long-term disputes in a peaceful, cooperative way. The European Union solves challenges and creates opportunities through dialogue, partnerships and the search for win-win solutions. We are investing in our own strengths and the strengths of our partners, in multilateralism, in cooperation, as a strong and reliable player who is increasingly needed in this fragile and unpredictable world. There is a great deal that the European Union can do alone, but we can do even more if we work together with our partners across the entire globe. This is the European path to peace and security“, the laureate appealed to the audience in her acceptance speech.
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Federica Mogherini was born in 1973 in Rome and was Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs prior to her role at the European Union in 2014. She had already been a member of the Italian Parliament since 2008 and worked intensively on the issues of foreign affairs and security policy. In her role as High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy she is also simultaneously one of seven vice-presidents of the European Commission.
Information: The Hessian Peace Prize and its Board of Trustees were founded in 1993 by the former Prime Minister of Hesse Albert Osswald. The award comes with prize money of EUR 25,000. The members of the Board of Trustees of the Hessian Peace Prize, awarded by the Albert Osswald Foundation, are: – Karl Starzacher, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hessian Peace Prize, ret. Minister of State – Norbert Kartmann, President of the Hessian Parliament – Prof. Dr. Nicole Deitelhoff, Executive Director of the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt – Prof. Dr. Michael Brzoska, Scientific Director at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg – Heike Habermann, Vice- President of the Hessian Parliament – Peter von Unruh, Director at the Hessian Parliament – Veronika Winterstein, ret. Vice-President of the Hessian Parliament – PL Dr. Ines-Jacqueline Werkner, Institute of Interdisciplinary Research, Heidelberg
Previous Hessian Peach Prize laureates:
1994 Marianne Heiberg-Holst, Norway
1995 John Hume, Northern Ireland
1996 Gregorio Rosa Chávez, El Salvador
1997 Hans Koschnik, Germany
1998 Alexander Lebed, Russia
1999 George J. Mitchell, USA
2000 Martti Ahtisaari, Finland
2001 Max van der Stoel, Netherlands
2003 Lakhdar Brahimi, Algeria
2004 Hans Blix, Sweden
2005 His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
2006 Daniel Barenboim, Israel
2007 Christian Schwarz-Schilling, Germany
2008 Sam Nunn, USA
2009 Dekha Ibrahim Abdi, Kenya
2010 Ismail Khatib, Palestine
2011 Sadako Ogata, Japan
2012 Elisabeth Decrey Warner, Switzerland
2013 Dr. Muhammad Ashafa and Dr. James Wuye, Nigeria
2014 Rubem César Fernandes, Brazil
2015 Ella Mikhaylovna Polyakova, Russia
2016 Federica Mogherini, EU – Italy
For further information:
Hessian Peace Prize/Hessian State Assembly (Speaker Norbert Kartmann):
https://hessischer-landtag.de/content/pressekonferenz-hessischer-friedenspreis
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hessischer_Friedenspreis
Minister of State for Federal and European Affairs (Minister Lucia Puttrich):
http://www.bundesrat.de/SharedDocs/personen/DE/laender/he/puttrich-lucia.html
Representation of Hesse to the EU (Director Friedrich von Heusinger): https://staatskanzlei.hessen.de/berlin-europa/hessen-europa/landesvertretung-bruessel/die-vertretung-des-landes-hessen-bei-der
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Pictures by Representation of Hesse to the EU: f.l.t.r. Norbert Kartmann, Speaker of the Hessian State Assembly; Lucia Puttrich Hessian Minister of State for Federal and European Affairs; Federica Mogherini – High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy; Karl Starzacher, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hessian Peace Prize, ret. Minister of State.
