Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble opens Cottbus Europe Talks

Often described as a European at heart, Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble is probably the most dear of the many honors he has received over the course of his life, the 2012 Charlemagne Prize for his services to the reunification and reorganization of Europe. During his eight years as German Finance Minister from 2009 to 2017, Europe was his defining theme. When the financial crisis threatened the very existence of the eurozone, he spent days and nights trying to hold it together. His crisis management made him the most popular politician in Germany for a time.

"It is an honor for us to have the most experienced and at the same time one of the most renowned European politicians of the Federal Republic of Germany as our guest at the Brandenburg University of Technology on the occasion of the opening of the Cottbus Europe Talks on Europe Day," BTU President Prof. Dr. Gesine Grande is pleased to say. "He is an outstanding personality in contemporary history. Probably no one could lecture better about Europe than he. As a university with 40 percent international students, numerous international cooperations in research and teaching, and especially as part of EUNICE, the European University for Customised Education, we live the European idea in our everyday life."

The Cottbus Europe Talks are intended to be a high-profile and citizen-oriented forum for the exchange of ideas about Europe. The patron is Katrin Lange, Minister of Finance and Europe of the State of Brandenburg. The aim of the series of events is to strengthen the interest of civil society actors in the European Union. The Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU), the city of Cottbus/Chóśebuz and the Euroregion Spree-Neiße-Bober e.V. with Europe Direct Guben jointly initiated the discussion format. There will be further dates of the Cottbus Europe Talks in loose succession.

Europe Day is celebrated annually on May 9 for peace and unity in Europe. It marks the anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, in which former French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman presented his idea for a new form of political cooperation in Europe in 1950. It was intended to make war between the nations of Europe unthinkable. Robert Schuman's proposal is considered the birth of the European Union.

Date: Tuesday, May 9, 2023, at 5 p.m.

Venue: BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg Central Campus, Large Lecture Hall Konrad-Zuse-Str. 4, 03046 Cottbus