Our role is to restore balance in Europe, declared Slovak President Čaputová in her speech in Aachen, Germany. 

“After those who rebuilt and reunited Europe, our generation of European leaders must be the guardians and protectors. Because the challenges we face today are many.”

President Čaputová gave her speech on the current challenges that Europe is facing at a gala dinner which was held on Friday 1 October 2021 on the eve of the awarding of the Charlemagne Prize. Other invited guests included important European politicians.
According to the president, Europe needs balance between our rights and commitments. A balance which allows us to have different opinions, but where we are all bound by the values of freedom, solidarity and liberal democracy.  

The president is convinced that every country that joined the European Union as well as every country that strives to join must be and remain a liberal democracy.  “This means that the rule of law, the separation of powers and independence of the judiciary, freedom of the media and the protection of minorities are sacrosanct. If these cornerstones on which our community is built are attacked, we must act to defend them, to restore balance.”  

According to the president, rather than discussing how our democracy is being undermined today, we should discuss what we can do to protect it, because a democracy which ceases to defend itself will soon cease to exist.  She believes that protection of the rule of law is also the protection of our freedom.  

In her speech she pointed to the fragmentation of our societies, communities and even families as one of the great challenges we face in Europe today.  She attributes this, among others, to the growing and often harmful influence of social media and added that we cannot afford just to stand still and watch a good servant turn into a bad master.    

“We know what we’re up against. Echo chambers and information silos. Loud opinions preferred over solid facts. The amplification of hate and anger. To protect Europe's balance, we must take the downsides of social media as seriously as we take their benefits,” The president stated while mentioning that during the pandemic we have seen that disinformation can be deadly.  She added that a crime is a crime regardless of whether it is digital or physical and that the damage is equally real.
The president sees the European Union not only as a union of states, but also as a continent of people with various stories and experiences.  According to her, restoring balance means preserving our diversity as well as our mutual understanding and empathy. She also described the entry of Eastern European countries to the EU as bringing social and economic prosperity.
The fact that our starting positions frequently differ is natural, according to the president; however, the differences, in her opinion, cannot be eliminated by a directive or law. “One cannot expedite the disappearance of these differences, but reinforcing stereotypes will certainly not help us restore balance. What we can do is cultivate understanding and common solutions. Because empathy is a quality of the strong.”  

The president participated in the Charlemagne Prize ceremony on Saturday 2 October 2021 at the coronation hall of the Aachen city hall. She met with Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, Věra Jourová, the Vice President of the European Commission and Klaus Iohannis, the President of Romania and this year’s recipient of the award.  The Charlemagne Prize has been awarded by the city of Aachen since 1950 for efforts to achieve European unification, cohesion and understanding.  

In recent years, the speech of an important figure focusing on the political evaluation of the state and vision of Europe has become a part of the gala dinner held on the eve of the award ceremony. This year, President Čaputová, had the privilege to speak on this significant occasion.