Sigmar Gabriel, Außenminister, Deutschland

Federal Foreign Minister Gabriel to deliver keynote speech at M100 Sanssouci Colloquium

Potsdam, 25 July, 2017. On the occasion of this year’s M100 Media Award on the evening of 14 September in Potsdam, Germany (at 6:00 p.m.), Federal Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel will hold the political keynote speech. The welcome address will be delivered by Potsdam’s Lord Mayor, Jann Jakobs.

„We are delighted to welcome Federal Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel to this year’s M100 Sanssouci Colloquium in Potsdam“, Jakobs emphasizes. “He has often commented on the protection of freedom of press and opinion and therefore, Gabriel has certainly much to say about the topic of this year’s Sanssouci Colloquium. For this reason, we are very excited about his political main speech.”

The M100 Media Award ceremony, which is part of the international media conference M100 Sanssouci Colloquium, honors each year individuals who have left their mark on the world and who have taken a stand for democracy, freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Previous recipients include the Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, the Turkish dancer and “standing man of Taksim Place” Erdem Gunduz, the mayor of Kiev Vitali Klitschko, editorial staff of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, and the Italian writer Roberto Saviano.

This year’s Award laureate will be announced soon. The title of the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium is “Democracy or Despotism? The Renaissance of Dark Powers”. Building on the topic “War or Peace” of the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium in 2016, this year’s conference examines the impact of the current political developments, discusses the world situation after Trump’s first 9 months in office (shortly before Germany’s own parliamentary elections), inquires about the future and responsibility of the media and asks whether they are still able to fulfil their traditional role as enlighteners, watchdogs and givers of orientation. The opening speech of Turkish journalist and former editor-in-chief of “Cumhuriyet”, Can Dündar, marks the start of the colloquium in the morning.

The more than 70 participants include Sven Afhüppe (Editor-in-Chief, Handelsblatt, Düsseldorf), Jamie Angus (Editorial Director, BBC Global News, London), Angelos Athanasopoulos (Senior Foreign and EU affairs Editor, To Vima, Athens), Erik Bjerager (Editor-in-Chief, Kristeligt Dagblad, Copenhagen), Prof. Jason Brennan (Professor for Strategy, Economy, Ethics, Public Policy, Georgetown University, Washington), Klaus Brinkbäumer (Editor-in-Chief, Der Spiegel, Hamburg), Can Dündar (Editor-in-Chief, Özgürüz, Berlin), Dr. Tobias Endler (Heidelberg Center for American Studies, Heidelberg), Dr. Alexandra Föderl-Schmid (Editor-in-Chief, Der Standard, Wien), Monika Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė (Editor-in-Chief, Delfi.lt, Vilnius), Sven Gösmann (Editor-in-Chief, dpa, Berlin), Ulrik Haagerup (Founder & CEO, Constructive Institute, Aarhus), Lauri Hussar (Editor-in-Chief, Postimees, Tallinn), Viktor Jerofejew (Writer, Moscow), Áine Kerr (Journalism Partnerships, Facebook), Tanit Koch (Editor-in-Chief, BILD, Berlin), Martin Kotthaus (Director General European Affairs, Federal Foreign Office, Berlin) Xenia Kounalaki (Head of Foreign Desk, Kathimerini daily, Athens), Mark Leonard (Director, ECFR, London), Peter Limbourg (Director, Deutsche Welle, Cologne/Berlin), Yannis Mastrogeorgiou (Director, DIKTIO, Athens), Sebastian Matthes (Editor-in-Chief, Huffington Post Germany, Munich), Sonia Mikich (Editor-in-Chief, WDR, Cologne), Mathias Müller von Blumencron (Editor-in-Chief, Digitale Medien FAZ, Frankfurt/M.), Arkady Ostrovsky (Correspondent Russia and East Europe, The Economist, London), Dr. Christian Rainer (Editor-in-Chief, Profil, Vienna), Prof. Dr. Andreas Rödder (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz), Harun Simavi (Founder, Diken, Istanbul), Daniel Smilov (Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia), Maria Stepanova (Editor-in-Chief, Colta.ru, Moscow), Eduardo Suarez (Founder, Politibot, Madrid), Sergij Sydorenko (Editor-in-Chief, European Pravda, Kiev), Vazha Tavberidze (Editor-in-Chief, Georgian Journal, Tblisi), Dr. Sylke Tempel (Editor-in-Chief,  Policy Journal, Berlin), Maxim Trudolyubov (Editor-at-Large, Vedomosti, Moscow), Dr. George Tzogopoulos (Founder, Chinanadgreece.com, Athens) Dr. Uwe Vorkötter (Editor-in-Chief, Horizont Group, Frankfurt/Main), and Ursula Weidenfeld (Economical Journalist, Berlin).