What a day! Today, you are completing your degree at the College of Europe under the proud name of Madeleine Albright. You’ve worked hard to get here, you’ve worked hard while you were here, you’ve finished your exams. And now, it’s up to us, everybody in this room, your lecturers, your parents, your friends and me to say, congratulations, class of 2024! You made it!

I am sure all of you are excited to see what lies ahead. You are excited to go out into the world and make your mark. But before you do, here is one piece of presidential advice: please take a deep breath and enjoy this special moment in your life!

Appreciate the education you’ve received in this beautiful city of Bruges – "a fairy-tale town, isn’t it?". Be proud of what you have achieved, have a good time with the friends you have made here at the College – and, who knows, maybe a new friend will even turn into a future spouse. I’ve heard it happens here.

So, please enjoy your summer – and as German President I have to add: please do watch the EURO 2024 matches! It’s been a thrilling tournament so far, there are many strong teams and nobody knows yet who will win. But here is another great thing about the College of Europe: since there are students from literally every country in Europe, we know for certain that some of you will be celebrating at the end and the rest of you can celebrate with them.

This class of 2024, the Madeleine Albright promotion, is just as diverse as our beautiful continent with students from 50 countries, from all backgrounds and persuasions.

But there is something that unites you: Europe matters to you. Public service matters to you. The miracle of the European Union, of nations choosing peace over war, cooperation over conflict, a shared future over a divided past – it matters to you. Making sure that those Flanders Fields which you all visited will never again see the blood of young Europeans spilled for the sake of nationalism and hatred – it matters to you.

I am certain that all of you, and your friends in Natolin and Tirana, will find your place to work for the miracle of Europe, to work for its future. So, no matter where you end up – in your home countries or the institutions of the European Union, in diplomacy or in the third sector – I applaud you for choosing to work for the public good. For the good of Europe.

I applaud you and I have the utmost respect for you choosing this path, since we all know that the times in which you enter public service are historically difficult times. Russia’s war against Ukraine, the brutal attack of Hamas on Israel and the suffering of men, women and children in Gaza. The threats against our own democracies, both external and internal. The lure of populism and extremism, as seen in the European election. The fight against climate change and the sweeping impact of energy, digital and economic transformation across our societies. Yes, it’s a truly tough time to enter public service.

Every generation feels the call of history. Every generation faces challenges that define it. But with one look at the world around us, I think it is fair to say: more is being asked of your generation than many generations before.

Allow me to take you back a few decades. Round about 33 years ago, I stood in your shoes. To be clear, I didn’t go to the College of Europe. In fact, I didn’t even think of entering public service until my early thirties. In 1991, I had just finished my PhD and was gearing up for a career in academia, when a good friend, Brigitte, who had just taken a job in the new state government in Hanover, Lower Saxony, called me and said: "Frank, these are exciting times, you have to come join us!"

And, indeed, those were exciting times, optimistic times. The Wall was gone. People in Eastern Germany had waged a peaceful revolution. Germany was now a unified nation at the heart of Europe. The peoples of Eastern Europe had wrestled their freedom from the yoke of the Soviet Union. From Tallinn to Timișoara, from Vilnius to Varna, people were rebuilding their nations and paving their way into the European family. Freedom and democracy everywhere seemed on the march. History was on our side! So, when I entered public service, my mindset was: the world is becoming a better place day by day and I want to be a part of that. I want to help it along.

The contrast with today couldn’t be sharper. Optimism is hard to come by – especially in our part of the world, in a Europe where "crisis mode" seems to have become the new norm. So, your generation entering public service has a very different outlook: the world seems to be getting worse by the day. So, the mindset has to be: let’s work hard to make the change!

I have the greatest respect for that! When you don’t have the wind of history in your sails, how much harder, and indeed how much more important it is to work for the common good!

It’s easy to be on the winning side. It’s easy to be for Real Madrid. It’s much harder to be out there fighting in the field when the other team is ahead, when the fans are booing, when the rain is pouring down. I promise this is where my football analogies end – because, at the end of the day, politics isn’t a game. Our future isn’t a game.

I am not here to talk about the dark clouds of today or the brighter days of the past. That would neither be helpful nor fitting. No, I am here to talk about you – about great young people who are ready to make a difference, even when times are tough. I am here to talk about what it takes to make a difference. What it takes to shape your future rather than endure it.

There is one word which, to my mind, is central to all politics and public service: realism. Taking the world as it is, but not leaving it that way – that’s realism.

I am putting this term at the centre of my speech because I think it is necessary for us as Europeans to reconsider what realism means in this critical moment, at this time of crisis. Many of us are asking: what are we supposed to do, what can we expect to achieve, what concessions do we have to make if we want to make a difference for the better in a world that seems, in many ways, set for the worst?

For many years, realism and idealism, engagement and ambition seemed to go naturally hand in hand. And, of course, it is easier to engage with the world, to take risks, to invest in new partnerships, politically and economically, when you believe the overall trajectory is pointing upwards. When you believe the world as a whole is moving towards freedom, democracy, human rights, the rule of law.

Realism and idealism pointing the same way – I think that was a belief which was especially strong in my country, Germany, where we assumed that our nation’s good fortune – peaceful unification, democracy, prosperity – would linearly extend to the rest of the world and into the future.

That belief has been thoroughly drained out of us – especially since the watershed that was 24 February, 2022. On 24 February, Vladimir Putin not only attacked Ukraine – he tore down the entire security architecture of our continent. He destroyed the idea of an order based on common rules and peaceful coexistence, an order which we had worked so hard to build.

So today, instead of spreading peace and prosperity, we find ourselves re-arming, sending weapons to Ukraine to aid its defence against the aggressor and shoring up our own defences on all levels: in the military, in energy and trade, in our democratic institutions.

All of that is necessary. But to many people, especially young people, who see all this, it seems that the reality and our ideals, our engagement with the world and our ambitions for the world, are moving further and further apart.

And what should we make of that? Some say our engagement is wrong. Others say our ideals are fake. To my mind, what this means is that even more so, we have to act! Even when the wind of history is blowing in our faces, I continue to be a realist at heart. I continue to believe it is better to try and fail, than never try and always be right. I continue to believe it is better to act and be judged by history, than not act and pass judgment on others.

When I look around this room, when I see all the youthful energy, the skills you have honed and the connections you have made with each other, I am deeply convinced that you will try and that you will make a difference for the better.

No graduation ceremony, no commencement speech can finish without some well-meaning advice from the older generation. So here is mine: What does it take? I think realism in our time requires three things: humility, courage and compromise.

Humility means: you’re not always right. In fact, nobody is always right – except in the world of Twitter and TikTok. The world of social media has had a devastating effect on the quality of our public discourse. Self-righteousness, black and white, rash, polemical, aggressive judgment – that’s what gets you clicks and likes. What we need is the opposite: filtering out the noise, really listening to the other side, trying to see the shades of grey, making sense of the world’s contradictions – that’s the hard work that we need.

I say this on an individual level but I think it also applies on a systemic level. It applies to the European project. Yes, we have good reason to believe in our values and defend them. We have good reason to be proud and protective of our liberal democracies, and of the European institutions that we have built. But we must never feel superior because of our values and institutions! Nor must we be complacent about them.

As Timothy Garton Ash writes in his beautiful book Homelands: In celebrating Europe’s multi-layered heritage we are always in danger of falling back into sweeping claims about the uniqueness and inherent superiority of European civilisation. In fact, such sweeping claims, such superiority and self-righteousness play directly into the hands of China’s and Russia’s anti-Western narratives and they harm one of our vital strategic interests as Europeans: to engage and partner with countries around the world, in Asia, Africa and Latin America, countries that are rising up and seeking their rightful place on the global stage.

Let’s not forget: Europe’s "multi-layered heritage", our history of Enlightenment and emancipation is – from the perspective of many around the world – deeply connected with a history of imperialism, colonialism and oppression. As Europeans, we must never ignore the dark sides of our history. Only by acknowledging that Europe’s history is, in that sense, full of double standards can we avoid applying new double standards today. This is what I mean by humility.

Secondly: courage. One of the reasons why people are drawn to social media is because it’s easy. It’s easy to be loud, it’s easy to declare your stance and be done with it. But declarations don’t change a thing. Engaging, looking for common ground, seeking solutions, acting on them – that is what brings change!

In times when the world is more unpredictable than ever, nothing you do in politics or public service comes with a guarantee of success. That’s the courage you will need. You will work in European affairs, in national politics or in diplomacy, you will pour your heart and soul into it – but you will never know how the history books will judge.

I will give you an example: Your esteemed Rector, my good friend Federica Mogherini, has always been a fearless diplomat. Not knowing what will happen in 5 or 10 or 20 years, she always tried to make a difference in the here and now. Federica, I often think of the long days and nights ten years ago when we were negotiating with Iran about the end of their nuclear weapons programme. Were we able to see into the future? Did we know how things would develop in the Middle East? No. But I know one thing: the only time in decades when Iran’s nuclear enrichment was demonstrably going down were those three years between 2015 and 2018 when the nuclear agreement was in effect before the Trump Administration decided to end it unilaterally. And especially when I look at Iran’s destructive force in the region today, I am glad that this regime does not have nuclear weapons and I continue to believe that we have to work hard to make sure it never will!

It takes courage and I believe courage is urgently needed in the Middle East today. Since 7 October, the suffering has been unspeakable. I’ve been to Kibbutz Be’eri in the south of Israel ravaged by Hamas. I’ve seen the blood stains, the burnt homes. And I’ve met with Palestinians who have left the Gaza Strip, who have lost mothers, brothers, children. Who have lost everything they’ve built.

But, my friends, declarations – whether declarations of solidarity or declarations of outrage – do not change the situation on the ground. The only way forward, in my view, is to continue to advocate the release of the remaining hostages in exchange for a ceasefire. That is the only way to begin a political process. And any political process must take both sides to a future of security, dignity and self-determination. That’s the courage both Palestinians and Israelis deserve – that’s the courage I expect of leaders everywhere, in Israel and in the region. The courage to say: it can’t go on like this.

Yes, a two-state solution has never been further away – but it also has never been more urgent!

Thirdly: compromise. Compromise is – for the media – the least sexy component of democracy, but – for me – the most important one. And compromise is the single most effective driver of European integration. All of you know that nights of negotiating in the European Council are far from glamorous. In fact, they are nerve-racking.

But this is how Europe works. This is the beauty of Europe: compromise builds cooperation. Cooperation builds unity. Unity builds strength. And what strength we have shown in the past two years in the face of Putin’s war! When he invaded Ukraine, Putin thought the West would be weak and divided. We proved him wrong. We in Europe, we in NATO were stronger and more united than ever – and we must continue to support Ukraine as long as it takes!

To be able to work together and to stay together, and you all know that it hasn’t got any easier since last week’s European elections, compromise will still be needed, but my years in Brussels have taught me: compromise can only be found in the spirit of Europe, not against the spirit of Europe. Yes, every European leader is elected for their own agenda, their own people. But if we all push our own way, and in the process tear apart the European whole – nobody wins but everything is lost.

There has never been a tougher time to fight for Europe and there has never been a more important time to fight for Europe!

I congratulate you on graduating from the College of Europe and I wish from the bottom of my heart that you will fight for your Europe – with courage and humility, with an open mind and an open heart.

Europe matters to you. And trust me: you matter to Europe.

Thank you.