President Klaus Iohannis will receive the 2020 Kaiser Otto prize (Kaiser-Otto-Preis) this Wednesday, October 14, at a ceremony in Magdeburg, Germany.

He receives the prize for “great merits in the European unification efforts,” according to a statement from the Presidential Administration.

The award ceremony is held at the Magdeburg Cathedral (Magdeburger Dom, the Cathedral of Saints Maurice and Catherine), home to the grave of Otto I the Great, Holy Roman Emperor.

Heiko Maas, Germany’s Foreign Affairs Minister, will deliver the Laudatio, in a ceremony also attended by Reiner Haseloff, the minister president of the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, Rainer Robra, state minister and head of the state chancellery of Saxony-Anhalt, and Lutz Trűmper, lord mayor of the city of Magdeburg.

The Kaiser Otto prize is granted every two years to personalities and organizations with special merits in the European unification process and promoting European thinking. The distinction was first presented in 2005, when Magdeburg marked 1200 years of existence. 

German chancellor Angela Merkel, former German president Richard von Weizsäcker, former Latvian president Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, and Federica Mogherini, a former EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, are among the recipients of the prize. In 2005, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) was the first institution to receive the distinction. 

(Photo: Presidency.ro)

simona@romania-insider.com