awards
Wagenknecht criticizes the Charlemagne Prize award to Selenskyj
Co-author of the “Manifesto for Peace”: Sahra Wagenknecht. photo
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
This year, the President of Ukraine Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people will be honored with the Charlemagne Prize. Left-wing politician Wagenknecht does not agree with this decision.
The left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht sees the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj as an unsuitable recipient of the Charlemagne Prize of the city of Aachen.
Europe was founded after the Second World War as a project for peace. “Anyone who receives the Charlemagne Prize should do everything possible to end the war in Ukraine through negotiations and a compromise peace,” said the member of the Bundestag to the newspapers of the Funke media group. Wagenknecht added that it would be good if Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) “could convince Selenskyj to enable such a path from his side”.
The 53-year-old wrote a “Manifesto for Peace” together with women’s rights activist Alice Schwarzer, which among other things calls for an end to arms deliveries and negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The manifesto had also drawn much criticism.
“I wonder what these people want to achieve”
The Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, was skeptical of Wagenknecht’s call for a ceasefire and negotiations with Russia. “I wonder what these people want to achieve. I haven’t seen a single suggestion as to how they imagine negotiations. I also didn’t notice that these people demonstrated in front of the Russian embassy against Putin’s war,” Makeiev told “Spiegel “. For the Ukrainians, it’s “not a war on TV,” everyone is affected in one way or another.
Since 1950, the Charlemagne Prize has been awarded to personalities who have rendered services to European unity. The Board of Directors had already decided in December that Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people should be honored with the renowned prize this year. The award will be presented on May 14th. The organizers had stated that they were preparing for the President to attend in person, but this was still open.