Wolfgang Ischinger Holds Laudatory Remarks at the Henry A. Kissinger Prize

The ceremony was held at the Axica Convention Center in Berlin on the evening of Friday, March 28, 2025. Wolfgang Ischinger praised the three Baltic leaders for their exceptional leadership and unwavering commitment to European unity and security, highlighting their support for Ukraine and their contributions to the transatlantic relationship.


Excellencies, Friends and Supporters of the American Academy in Berlin, Good evening.

It is an honor for me today to participate in presenting the Henry A. Kissinger Prize to Kaja Kallas, Evika Siliņa, and Ingrida Šimonytė. As has been mentioned, this year’s ceremony is a very special one. It is the first after Dr. Kissinger’s passing. Henry always attended these award ceremonies personally.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this ceremony occurs during a time of war in Europe.

11 years ago, Russia took Crimea and started a violent confrontation in Donbass.

We are now in the fourth year of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, at a time of increasing uncertainty about the future of European security. We worry about America’s commitment to NATO, and to Europe more broadly. Are we now finally really drifting apart? Is America about to give up on her European allies? Is the sovereignty of Ukraine about to be traded in for a deal with Moscow? This are extremely worrisome questions, but they are being asked all over Europe at this time.

Ladies and Gentlemen, almost exactly 30 years ago, in the March/April issue of “Foreign Affairs”, the founding President of the American Academy, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, published an essay titled “America, a European Power”.

It has been and will continue to be a central mission of the American Academy in Berlin to maintain the Holbrooke spirit and to make sure that we will not now need to put a question mark after “America, a European power”! In early May I will be hosting, with my Munich Security Conference hat on, a Munich Leaders Meeting in Washington, DC. We will bring together senior US and European political and business decision-makers for two days of intense debate. 

I continue to believe quite strongly that there is a lot more that unites us than divides us. But let me now turn to our three Baltic award recipients:

Five years before the Holbrooke essay, in December of 1990, I was sitting behind Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher at the CSCE Summit Conference in Paris, which approved the famous “Charter of Paris”. At that summit, representatives of the three Baltic nations were excluded from attending because the Soviet delegation threatened to walk out if a single Baltic representative was going to be in the hall. That was the atmosphere in 1990!

Against this backdrop, it is a total miracle that the three Baltic states were able to join NATO just a decade later, and that we can celebrate their strength, their sovereignty, and their independence here tonight. But it is imperative today that decisive action is being taken to keep the entire Alliance safe now and in the future. To paraphrase Dr. Kissinger himself: “an issue deferred is often not a problem avoided, but a crisis invited.”

No one has understood this better than our Baltic friends. They have acted in exemplary fashion when it comes to investing in their own security and supporting Ukraine’s self-defense. Having been on the receiving end of aggression themselves, they know better than most how high the stakes are in the current confrontation between Ukraine and Russia, between Russia and the West. The Soviet occupation of their countries has shaped their identities, creating an enduring commitment to the collective defense of the NATO alliance.

In 2024, the three Baltic states were among the five European NATO allies spending more than 2.5% of their GDP on defense. All three countries plan to raise defense spending even further in coming years. They have also demonstrated extraordinary solidarity with Ukraine: the three Baltic states are among the top four states providing aid to Ukraine relative to their own GDP.

But it’s not just about money. The three leaders we honor here tonight, have shown their leadership in many other ways, and I had the privilege to witness that, including in particular, at the Munich Security Conference.

In 2023, Ingrida Šimonytė used the stage in Munich to call on Europe to make sure that the “Zeitenwende” that had been declared would be a real one if we matched words with funds and actions. She led by example by working with the German government to prepare the deployment of a 5.000-strong German brigade to Lithuania.

Kaja Kallas was this year’s recipient of the Kleist Award with which the Munich Security Conference recognizes the leadership of an outstanding transatlantic personality each year. Congratulations once again, dear Kaja!

In 2023, as Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaja used the Munich Security Conference to make the case for her EU Ammunition Initiative to ramp up artillery ammunition deliveries to Ukraine, which were and still are crucial for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s aggression.

And this was not her last proposal to strengthen Ukraine’s and Europe’s security. Only last week, in her new role as EU High Representative, she presented the “White Paper for European Defence”, which offers a plan to strengthen Europe’s defense capabilities and supporting Ukraine.

At the 2024 MSC, Prime Minister Evika Siliņa passionately made the point that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine cannot be stopped with diplomatic efforts alone, but that these must be backed up by military hardware and the will to use force, if necessary.

She too has matched her actions with words: later that year, Latvia hosted the Resolute Warrior exercise, the first major field war-fighting exercise for the NATO Multinational Brigade in Latvia involving more than 3.500 allied troops. Such multinational exercises are essential to improve interoperability between NATO militaries.

Where others talk, these three leaders act. They are truly women of their word. And for this reason, I cannot think of anyone more worthy of receiving this prize: three champions of transatlantic partnership,  cooperation, and mutual trust!

Kaja, Evika, and Ingrida, congratulations on receiving the Kissinger Prize!