European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen received the Charlemagne Prize on May 29–leading to criticism from MEPs who called the award “in blatant contradiction to the fundamental values for which this prize was originally created”.
Spain’s King Felipe VI and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz both delivered remarks at an awards ceremony in Aachen town hall. The prize citation praised von der Leyen’s “visionary leadership” in “guiding the EU through profound transformation with vision, courage, strength and foresight”.
However, German MEP Christine Anderson condemned the award, calling von der Leyen an “autocratic, power-drunk and corrupt” politician who drove a wedge between citizens and the EU institutions.
“Democracy, transparency, the rule of law, and international understanding have all been undermined under her watch,” wrote Anderson in a letter to the Charlemagne Prize Board.
Anderson said the award was especially inappropriate after the Pfizergate scandal. A ruling by the European General Court confirmed von der Leyen acted wrongly by refusing to release messages in which she was accused of negotiating a multi-billion-euro vaccine deal via undisclosed text messages.
The prize is for individuals or institutions for their services to Europe and European unity. Her critics, however, see von der Leyen’s mandate not as a time of unity, but one marked by scandal, corruption, centralisation, lack of transparency and spiralling EU debt.
“This honour is in blatant contradiction to the fundamental values for which this prize was originally created: European unification through democracy, transparency, the rule of law and international understanding,” the German MEP wrote.
“Awarding Ms. von der Leyen, the Charlemagne Prize Board of Directors is sending a fatal signal: instead of honouring integrity, responsibility & international understanding, it is honouring a politician who has contributed more than almost any other to the alienation between the European peoples and the Brussels institutions,” Anderson concluded.
Another MEP, France’s Virginie Joron, said “the EU has overstepped its original mandate” under von der Leyen. The legacy of EU founding father Robert Schuman was one of cooperation, not coercion, said Joron.
During her acceptance speech, Ursula von der Leyen sidestepped criticism while defending her legacy and pushing for a new European project calling for a 21st-century version of “Pax Europaea”.
She warned of a chaotic international order marked by “imperial ambitions,” and urged Europe to rearm and reassert itself geopolitically.
“A new international order will emerge in this decade. If we do not want to simply accept the consequences this will have for Europe and the world, we must shape this new order. History does not forgive either dithering or delaying. Our mission is European independence, ” she added.
Despite the growing criticism of von der Leyen and the European Commission, she follows her predecessors Walter Hallstein and Jacques Delors in receiving the Charlemagne Prize while in office.
