Luxembourg · Awarding of the International Charlemagne Prize (Internationaler Karlspreis) to the people of Luxembourg

The Charlemagne Prize (Karlspreis) goes back to an Aachen citizens’ initiative led by the merchant Kurt Pfeiffer and was first awarded in 1950. Its creation must be viewed against the backdrop of the Second World War and the subsequent political reorganisation of Western Europe. The award ceremony traditionally takes place in the Coronation Hall of the Aachener Rathaus.

The namesake is Charlemagne, who made Aachen a centre of his empire and had a palatine complex built there. Today’s cathedral and town hall are reminders of this era. However, Charlemagne did not pursue a project of European unification in the modern sense. For the prize’s initiators, his realm instead served as a historical symbol of a Europe extending beyond existing borders. This interpretation arose in the post-war period and must be distinguished from the actual policies of the early medieval ruler.

Luxembourg is one of the six founding states of the European Coal and Steel Community. Its treaty was signed in 1951; the Community’s first institutions subsequently began their work in Luxembourg. The country thus became one of the institutional locations of the later European Union. Today, among others, the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Investment Bank are based there. The agreement on the gradual abolition of border controls, concluded in 1985 in the Luxembourg town of Schengen, also directly links the name of the country with the process of European integration.

Luxembourg’s political role was also shaped by politicians such as Joseph Bech, Pierre Werner, Jacques Santer and Jean-Claude Juncker. Werner presented an early plan for a European economic and monetary union; Santer and Juncker later headed the European Commission. In multilingual Luxembourg and in everyday cross-border life with Belgium, Germany and France, European connections are also a social reality. The choice of an entire population rather than an individual officeholder therefore directs attention to this broader historical and everyday participation. The year of issue also coincides with the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community.