Annalena Baerbock on the laureates:

[…] ‘I don’t even know how to express it: But what a personal honour it is for me to give the laudation today to the most courageous women in Europe! To you, dear Sviatlana, representative of free Belarus. To you, dear Veronica, who lost everything and yet continues to fight far from home. To Maria, who sits far away from us in a prison cell on eight square meters with cold water [...] The sacrifices that you and your families make: They make us painfully aware of how high the price of freedom is. But even if you are in exile, Maria in prison. Your courage cannot be locked away. The idea of freedom cannot be driven into exile. That is the message of this year’s Charlemagne Prize. [...] For me, as German Foreign Minister, it is clear that in future we must look even more critically – this is also the message of this day – and act even more decisively when our values and our freedom are attacked. [...] Not only when thousands are arrested for telling the truth. Not only when bombs fly, when tanks roll. But already when we see the first warning signs that human rights are being trampled. That injustice is spreading, fear and lack of freedom are gaining the upper hand.’ […]