Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin
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Humboldt Speeches on Europe

How do heads of state of European member states and other high-ranking representatives of European institutions assess the current situation and future of the European project? The Humboldt Speeches on Europe aim to answer this question.

Dr. Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu spricht an einem Rednerpult vor einem gefüllten Saal. Das Publikum besteht vor allem aus Studierenden.
Dr. Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu spricht zum Thema "Defending Democracy in the 21st Century: Lessons from Europe's Youngest Republic". Photo: Santiago Tascon

In a time where our values and ideals are threatened by war and turmoil, populism, the resurgence of extremist political ideals or competing values, we must continue to believe in, and to strive towards, a stronger European Union.

George Vella

President of the Republic of Malta
George Vella steht dem Publikum zugewandt am Rednerpult und h?lt seine Rede. Im Vordergrund befindet sich ein Blumengesteck.

George Vella

President of the Republic of Malta

Europe has always been on the side of humanity. That is our role and we have to meet this moment.

Roberta Metsola

President of the European Parliament
Roberta Metsola lachend mit einem Mikrofon in der Hand, dem Publik zugewandt.

Roberta Metsola

President of the European Parliament

In addition to fundamental rights, democracy relies on another central, yet less visible component: knowledge. It is a popular saying that authoritarian regimes thrive on fear and ignorance. This is how people can be controlled. The less we know how things work, the more likely we are to let control slip through our fingers. That is why one of our main priorities is to equip people with the knowledge about how the internet works. This is one of the objectives of our proposed Digital Services Act.

Margrethe Vestager

Vice-President of the European Commission
Margrethe Vestager am Rednerinnenpult. An der Seite sieht man eine Kamera, im Hintergrund das Logo der HU auf einer Leinwand.

Margrethe Vestager

Vice-President of the European Commission

A forum for the future of European integration

On 12 May 2000, Federal Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer gave a keynote speech on European integration at Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin, in which he developed his vision of a "European Federation". The great resonance led to the founding of the lecture series"Humboldt Speeches on Europe". They are organised by theWalter Hallstein Institute for European Constitutional Law. Initially launched under Prof. Dr Dres. h.c. Ingolf Pernice and continued by his successor Prof. Dr Matthias Ruffert, the speeches offer a forum for discussing the fundamental issues of European integration.

All speeches at a glance

Wolfgang Sch?uble am Pult, wie er seine Rede h?lt. In der linken Bildseite befindet sich ein Blumenstrau?.
Wolfgang Sch?uble bei seiner Humboldt-Rede Photo: E.A. Jung-Wolff

Since Joschka Fischer's first speech on Europe in 2000, the Humboldt Speeches on Europe have established themselves as a place for visions and discussions on the future and further development of the European idea. In this long-standing tradition, it is not only Joschka Fischer's speech that has been remembered as an impulse for debate on the European project: Among the now more than 50 speakers, examples include the then Prime Minister of Luxembourg and Chairman of the Euro Group Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the German Bundestag Wolfgang Sch?uble and the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.

Promotion and cooperation

The Humboldt Speeches on Europe is a project of the Walter Hallstein Institute, which has been generously sponsored by Stiftung Mercator since 2014.
The European Commission Representation in Germany is the patron of the series.
Previous sponsors of the Humboldt Speeches on Europe were the German National Foundation, the European Commission and the Robert Bosch Foundation. From 2017 to June 2023, the lecture series was part of the joint project "We are Europe", which was organised by the Walter Hallstein Institute, the Stiftung Zukunft Berlin and the Internationale Journalistenprogramme e.V. and was also sponsored by the Stiftung Mercator.

Currently funded by:

Logo der Stiftung Mercator in hellblauer Schrift.
Logo der Europ?ischen Kommission mit Europaflagge.

Contact us

Walter Hallstein Institute for European Constitutional Law
Faculty of Law
Unter den Linden 6
10099 Berlin
Tel: +49 030 2093-91455
Fax: +49 030 2093-91451
Mail: humboldtreden.rewi? Please insert an @ at this point ?hu-berlin? Please insert a period at this pointde

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Humboldt Speeches as a book

The Humboldt Speeches are also published in book form. Volume 2 "Visions of Europe - Perspectives on Europe before, during and after the crisis" was published by Nomos-Verlag in 2019.

Further series of events

In addition to the Humboldt Speeches, there are other interesting series of events at Humboldt-Universit?t such as the Kosmos Lectures, the Du Bois Lectures and the Mosse Lectures.