On Friday 11th November 2022, EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager received the LutherRose 2022 for Social Responsibility and Entrepreneurial Courage at the Hoflaankerk in Rotterdam.
The International Martin Luther Foundation (IMLS) honoured Margrethe Vestager during the 15th Luther Conference. The Chairman of the Foundation, Dr. Thomas A. Seidel, is pleased that with Margrethe Vestager "an impressive personality receives the award, who embodies the reformatory values of Martin Luther both professionally and privately".
As Commissioner for Competition at the European Union, Margrethe Vestager has been campaigning for tax justice and fair market conditions since 2014 and takes analytically clear and courageous action against competition violations. In order to protect the interests of consumers, Vestager fights the economically damaging formation of cartels as well as the monopoly position of companies that endangers the market. She also does not shy away from confrontations with large, international technology groups. Since 2019, Vestager has also been one of the executive EU Vice-Presidents and Commissioner for Digital Affairs.
In her acceptance speech, the awardee Margrethe Vestager emphasized: “Our aim is to ensure that we can follow our dreams with respect for other humans. That our policies can give everyone a chance to contribute to and enrich our societies. To support women in their quest for true equality. And help to provide a social safety net that protects the most vulnerable. For all of us to feel that we belong in our social market economy, we need two things: a wide choice of affordable options. And fairness and trust in our markets. I am deeply honoured by this award. It reflects on the work we are doing”.
For Peter Skov-Jakobsen, Bishop of Copenhagen, it was "a great honor" in his eulogy to the laureate to express his "respect for a woman who has devoted her life entirely to politics." Turning to the laureate, he said, "You know that the political man must listen with his heart in order to be current in debate can."
The keynote speech (Un)Freedom in Europe. Socio-economic observations was given by Professor. Dr. Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 2002 to 2010. Today he teaches at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Balkenende argued in his keynote speech that there is a need for a new wave of European integration. He called on the European countries to build up strong economies based on moral capitalism, which consists of taking the long term into account, serving all stakeholders instead of shareholders only, and doing business with minimal harm to others. “If some continent can make the difference, it’s Europe.”
Earlier, the Luther Conference opened with a panel discussion. Amongst others prof. dr. Lans Bovenberg participated in the panel discussion. The correspondence between the two humanists Erasmus of Rotterdam and Martin Luther, which began in 1519, formed the historical starting point for the current discussion in Erasmus' hometown on the topic "Free Trade and Free Will? Erasmus, Luther and the economic issues of today".
- CV
Margrethe Vestager, born in 1968 in Glostrup, Denmark, studied economics in Copenhagen and obtained a Master of Science in 1993. She then worked for two years at the Danish Ministry of Finance and from 1995 to 1997 as the Danish State Finance Agency. During the same period (1993-1997), Vestager was party leader of the social liberal party Det Radikale Venstre, which her great-grandfather had founded. In her capacity as Minister of Education (1998-2001), Vestager was also responsible for the Danish Ministry of Churches until 2000. When Vestager was appointed Minister of Economic Affairs and the Interior in 2011, she held the posts of Danish Minister of Economic Affairs, Minister of the Interior and Deputy Head of Government at the same time as chairing the party Det Radikale Venstre. She stepped down from her political posts in Denmark in 2014 when she took office as Competition Commissioner in Brussels. Vestager grew up in a Lutheran vicarage as the eldest of four children of a pastoral couple.
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The International Martin Luther Foundation organized the Luther Conference 2022 together with the Erasmus Economics & Theology Institute of the University of Rotterdam and REFORC (Reformation Research Consortium). The event was supported by the German Embassy and the German-Dutch Chamber of Commerce in The Hague.
Credit for the photos goes to Tam Koppelaar.
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