Madam President, dear Maja Sandu, I remember well your visit to Berlin last May. We talked about grave issues that did not exactly match the warm, summer-like weather as we took a short walk through the garden of Schloss Bellevue. Back then, we discussed pivotal decisions that your country was about to take, and we talked about threats that were taking shape. About signs that your country, under pressure from your mighty neighbour and a never-ending stream of disinformation and external attempts to exert political influence, might take a wrong turn. Of course, the issues at hand were the presidential election and how it would impact the upcoming accession negotiations with the EU.

Many in Europe were not aware of how dramatic the situation was, or of the possible consequences for the independence and sovereignty of this small country and its friendly people. However you, Maia Sandu, were very much aware of the magnitude of the challenge you faced in the form of your powerful adversary. Yet, with the strength that you drew from the many disputes you had had during your first term in office as President, and trusting that your friends in Europe and North America would support you, you were not afraid to face it. With firm conviction and admirable inner strength, you were prepared to confront the enemies of democracy and of Europe and to make a second bid for the Presidency – motivated by the responsibility you felt for the future of your country and its freedom. People in Moldova rewarded your courage and your strength as a leader. They re-elected you as President of Moldova. They chose Europe, and accession negotiations have meanwhile been successfully launched. Congratulations on this twofold success!

Today, you are receiving the Reinhard Mohn Prize and are thereby being honoured for your steadfastness and courage, as well as for your truly exceptional commitment to democracy in the Republic of Moldova. I am extremely pleased about this. The motto of this year’s prize is Strengthening democracy. What is more, this could just as well be the motto you have been living by for the last years and decades, undeterred by the risks you personally face or by political setbacks. I congratulate you most sincerely on this award.

Four days from now, we will mark yet another anniversary of the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. This terrible war has already dragged on for three years. For three years, it has brought death, destruction and suffering to the people of Ukraine. Ever since this war began, our concern for Moldova has increased as well. I have visited your beautiful country numerous times, Madam President. And I have seen the difficult, existential threats the Republic of Moldova faces and is living with.

Yet since the war began we also know that those who started this war and are waging it with extreme brutality against Ukraine are ultimately targeting not only Ukraine and not only Moldova. Moscow is targeting the countries of the free, liberal West. It wants to inflict damage on democracy and freedom, and it is basically targeting everything that defines us. You, Maia Sandu, already pointed this out when many in Europe did not yet want to believe this.

We also ignored for too long that the threat to democracy originates not only on the outside, among the enemies of the West. Even though we saw that, for some time, a new fascination with authoritarianism had taken hold in many societies of the democratic West, including among our immediate neighbours.

For too long, we thought we lived on an island here in Germany, where we are protected from such threats thanks to a good constitution or decades of political stability. We are not. Here, too, we feel how democracy is threatened, and here, too, we see a troubling level of disdain for democratic institutions and their representatives. Here, too, we see the democratic centre slowly eroding, the result being that the fringes of the political spectrum are gaining more influence and power.

As if that were not enough, the United States Vice President’s speech at the Munich Security Conference caused us to doubt whether, when it comes to questions regarding the future of democracy, we are still singing from the same song sheet on both sides of the Atlantic. I do not want to go into details here, but since we are at an event hosted by a media company, I do want to say that I am deeply concerned by the fact that, in the leading nation of the democratic West, political, economic, digital and media power is to an extent previously unknown becoming concentrated in the hands of a few. And I am most deeply concerned when I see this small elite group not only rewrite their own country’s liberal democracy playbook, but also support forces in Germany that have contempt for the institutions of democracy. What is at stake now is democracy’s ability to stand up for and assert itself!

Becoming a part of this and taking a stand is so easy in our country. No one needs to fear any detriment to their career, no one needs to fear for their life. Considering the widespread indifference and lethargy here – as if the blessings of freedom and democracy were God-given and guaranteed to last forever – we should be more than a little ashamed when others – first and foremost today’s prizewinner Maia Sandu – fight an honest battle and put everything on the line for precisely the values that are also our own.

Madam President, we should follow the example that you set. You serve as a role model to all those who do not want to leave the field to autocrats. You are daily proof of the yearning for democracy. You live democracy. For this, you have not only earned our greatest respect. We also thank you for it.

Protecting and strengthening democracy is the task of our times. At international level, and in Germany. This includes shaping the transformation that our society is due to undergo in such a way that our country remains a place that future generations want to live in – economically strong, sustainable and democratic. You, Professor Otto, have been engaged in precisely this effort, as an entrepreneur and above all as a benefactor. Because, for many decades, you have seen yourself as being under an obligation not only to your company, but also to society. For your wide-ranging engagement, you, too, are being presented with the Reinhard Mohn Prize. I warmly congratulate you, Professor Otto, on this award.

By selecting the two of you as the prizewinners, the Bertelsmann Stiftung is sending an important signal, and I want to extend my sincere thanks to you for this, Ms Mohn and Dr Ametsreiter. I am aware that your commitment to our democracy and to our living together as a community extends far beyond this prize. I thank you, Liz Mohn, for the many forms our cooperation has taken in recent years.

The Republic of Moldova comprises less than three million people. Everyone who spends time in the country quickly realises that having Russia in the neighbourhood is by no means simply a geographic fact, well-documented on the maps of Eastern Europe. It also goes beyond the reality of common borders. Already because the primary loyalty of the Moldovan region of Transnistria does not lie with Chisinau – its own capital, that of Moldova. Rather, due to the wide-ranging support that the region receives from Russia, it serves as an access point, allowing Russia to exert influence in many ways throughout the national territory of the Republic of Moldova.

During my state visit to the Republic of Moldova in 2021, I experienced for myself what being in Russia’s vicinity truly means for domestic politics in Moldova. Dear Maia Sandu, we had already held our political talks with both the government and the opposition; we had visited the sites of German investments in Moldova’s economy and even toured impressive underground wine cellars. We were already in the middle of our farewell exchange, just before our return flight to Berlin, when I personally became a witness to blackmail by Russia – which possibly was even intentional on the side of the blackmailers. In any case, your staff drew you aside into a neighbouring room. There, you were informed that Russia would cut off its gas supply within 24 hours if Moldova did not immediately agree to a 25 percent price hike.

Honoured guests, you can imagine that President Sandu’s room for manoeuvre on such issues is quite narrow; at the time, it was even narrower, because all of the country’s energy supplies came from Russia. Everyone knows that when people are freezing in their cold homes or are provided electricity only for a few hours a day, then it does not take much to stir up dissatisfaction and to thereby spark protests.

I witnessed only that one event. And I can only guess how many policy areas in Moldova see similar attempts being made. Such challenges would already be fully enough for anyone with political responsibility who is not only trying to personally survive, but also looking to build a better future for their country. Let us not forget that, even without Transnistria, Moldova is a multiethnic country with a majority of Romanian-speaking Moldovans and to some extent large minorities of Romanians, Ukrainians, Gagauz, Tatars, Russians, Bulgarians and Roma. Depending on the political situation, different regions of the country exert pressure on Chisinau – pressure that outside actors can then instrumentalise.

Not only is Moldova one of the poorest countries in Europe, but expensive energy supplies from Russia, the war in neighbouring Ukraine and internal conflicts are also hindering its economic development. On top of this, skilled young people are often deciding to leave the country. This is something that to a large extent we in Germany have benefited from, but at the same time is indeed weakening Moldova’s prospects for the future.

Can we here in Germany, where we routinely take a doom-and-gloom approach to things, even imagine what it means to remain optimistic under the circumstances I have described and then also pass on some of this optimism to your people?

Maia Sandu, you not only remain optimistic. You even steadfastly pursue – despite all of the pressure you are under – your important reform projects: a reform of the judiciary, and the fight against corruption and poverty. You do this with the help of a governmental sector that is smaller than the smallest German Federal Ministry. This deserves our great respect.

Great respect also because you know that you do make substantial demands of your country and its people. And you openly address this fact. During the inaugural speech for your second term, you said: European integration is our path to safety and prosperity, but let’s not see it as a business-class ticket to paradise.

I think that people in Moldova have understood that – and they follow your lead nevertheless. Because you, Maia Sandu, have successfully conveyed to your country that there is no such thing as the self-healing powers some have daydreamed about. And that – as you have repeatedly warned – European integration will not be the miraculous solution to all of Moldova’s problems. You have told people that, as your country proceeds down the right path to EU membership, your fellow citizens will need to be courageous and work hard.

You yourself know all about hard work. After completing your studies in business administration and international relations at university in Chisinau, you moved on to the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where you earned a Master in Public Administration in 2010. Already in 2010, you began working as an economist at the World Bank Group in Washington, D.C. And it is entirely feasible that you could have gone on to pursue a career in international organisations.

It would certainly have been a career path filled with important tasks. It would also have been a much easier route than the one you chose to take. But your country called out to you. And you followed that call. You willingly gave up distinction, a career and a good salary– because your country needed you.

As of 2012, you became Minister of Education and took on the task of fixing up Moldova’s disadvantaged education system. In 2016, pro-Russian forces still managed to keep you from attaining the Presidency; yet in 2019, you were subsequently elected Prime Minister, despite their opposition. In 2020, you were elected President by a wide margin of the votes, a success that you followed up with re-election to the Presidency in November 2024 – despite all attempts by Moscow to bring you down and, in the process, turn Moldova’s road to Europe into a dead end.

Moldova is not just a small country with a big heart; it is an inspiration for others in uncertain times, you once said. And you deliver proof of both these things every day. The big heart is on display when it comes to the war in your neighbouring country. You see the pain and suffering of people there. And you are not indifferent to it. Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe. But nevertheless, its people’s willingness to help has been overwhelming. Measured in relation to its own population, no country in Europe has taken in as many refugees from Ukraine as Moldova. We in Germany know what that means. For this, too, you deserve our great respect.

And, Maia Sandu, I also want to underscore the second part of what you said – how Moldova serves as an inspiration for others. Yet it is not only your country that inspires others. It is you yourself who gives inspiration. The personal path you have chosen, your decision to serve your country. Your democratic convictions, your desire to become integrated into the European Union and your steadfast resilience. You have always been resilient, but, since the start of Russia’s war of aggression, the headwinds you face have grown considerably stronger. But you are not only withstanding the pressure. You are truly fighting back. You are making every personal effort to maintain your country’s sovereignty and self-determination, and to strengthen democracy – with the aim of making it stormproof. You are fighting for peace in your country, and for peace in Europe.

President Sandu, you are setting an example for people in Moldova, by showing them that they must not feel like the objects of world events, but rather can self-assuredly and independently fight for their place in the world. You point the way to EU membership, and you have managed to have the goal of accession to the Union enshrined in your constitution. I can think of only very few politicians who have tied their political and personal fate more strongly and unconditionally to the European idea than you have.

I again want to thank you wholeheartedly for your steadfastness, your bravery and your visionary power. You serve as a role model to us all; a role model that shines brightly and gives us courage at a time when we need encouragement. And I assure you that Germany will remain at the side of the Republic of Moldova and will accompany your country as it integrates into the European Union.

I wish your country all of the strength and independence it needs to accomplish this. And I hope that you personally will maintain your remarkable energy. Once again, I warmly congratulate you on being awarded the 2025 Reinhard Mohn Prize.