Speaker Joseph Luns on the laureate:

‘He recognized that the efforts of the Brandt government to find a balance with the Soviet Union in the course of the policy of détente was only promising on the basis of a firm anchoring of the Federal Republic of Germany in the amalgamating Europe and the Atlantic Alliance. He did everything he could to maintain the persuasive power and credibility of these politics against the West. […] It is of great meaning when the highest representative of the national sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Germany does not shy away from speaking about a constitution for Europe; thus transcending the constitution of the national sovereignty that he embodies.’