Speech of the President of Latvia H.E. Egils LevitsHamburg Speech on the Future of Europe

1 March 2024

Photo: UHH

The first “Hamburg Speech on the Future of Europe” organized as part of the multi-year conference series “Hamburg-Vigoni Forum”, took place on Friday, April 28, 2023 in the atrium of the library of the University of Hamburg. Over 200 participants from academia, politics, and society were present as H.E. Egils Levits, the President of Latvia and alumnus of the University of Hamburg, spoke about the future of Europe.

During his opening remarks, Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren, President of the University of Hamburg, emphasized the significance of the event in light of the current political developments in Europe. The past months have marked a turning point in European politics, raising the question of how Europe, as a community of law and values, holds together and what defines the future of Europe.

In a subsequent panel discussion, alongside the Latvian President, H.E. Oleksii Makeiev, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Federal Republic of Germany, Almut Möller, State Councilor and Representative of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg to the Federal Government, and Ivo Belet, Senior Expert in the Cabinet of the Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Democracy and Demography, discussed the question of what keeps the European Union together amidst national and international crises.

History has shown that crises have not only posed challenges to the European Union but ultimately strengthened its political unity. An example of this, as stated by the Latvian President, is the Russian aggression against Ukraine, which contributed to strengthening "foreign policy capability despite certain problems." Europe has "never spoken with such a loud voice before" as it does now.

The Ukrainian Ambassador, H.E. Oleksii Makeiev, echoed this sentiment: "Never before has Europe been so united in defending my country and European values." Makeiev also emphasized the multifaceted nature of European solidarity, which encompasses not only solidarity between states but also between citizens and within European civil societies. Almut Möller picked up on this momentum: "We all need to carefully consider our role now. What is our contribution to strengthening the European Union internally and to strengthening Europe beyond the European Union? For all those with whom we feel connected and who feel connected to us." Recent crises have led to a new awareness of the fragility of the "European way of life." Ivo Belet underscored that this way of life is not self-evident but must be continually reproduced.

In conclusion, H.E. Egils Levits summarized with an eye to the future: "There is no way to maintain, enforce, and strengthen our way of life without strengthening Europe." Therefore, the Europe of the future will look as it must.

The welcoming words of the President of the University of Hamburg and the speech by the Latvian President have now been published in the publication series "Impulses of the Hamburg-Vigoni Forum for a European Future Political Agenda."

Hamburg Speech on the Future of Europe by the Latvian President H.E. Egils Levits