On Saturday, the Hans Ringier Foundation presented the European Prize for Political Culture to Wolfgang Schäuble. The ceremony was hosted by Frank A. Meyer, who described Germany’s Federal Minister of Finance as both a „practical thinker for democracy“ and and a “safe pair of hands” for Europe.

Norbert Lammert, the President of the German Bundestag, Germany’s national parliament, recognised the achievements of the 70-year-old Wolfgang Schäuble in a very personal encomium address. No other German politician since the Second World War, Lammert told the assembled audience, had exerted such a decisive influence on major events in Germany’s and Europe’s evolution than Wolfgang Schäuble, nor had anyone done so for so long and in such a variety of key offices in parliament and government. Few, if any, Lammert added, had ever had to pay such a high price for their political commitment.

The Hans Ringier Foundation’s prize was presented by Frank A. Meyer at the traditional dîner républicain held at the Castello del Sole in Ascona , Switzerland.

For nearly 40 years now, the dîner républicain has been held during the Locarno International Film Festival. Guests attending the prize-giving included Swiss Federal Councillors Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf and Alain Berset, the President of Switzerland’s National Council, Maya Graf, the EU Commissioner for Education, Cultural, Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and the French senator Richard Yung.

Hans Ringier Foundation