This year’s Westphalia Peace Prize will be awarded to Alexis Tsipras and former prime minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev.
According to the International Review Board of the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association, the two former prime ministers are honoured for their “diplomatic skills” with the Prespa Agreement and for their contribution to stability.Â
“Alexis Tsipras and Zoraf Zaev with the Prespa agreement, which has solved a decades-long dispute over the name, have created a diplomatic workforce and have contributed decisively to the stability of the entire Balkan region,” Raidan Oshiran said for Westphalia-Lippe (LWL).
As the Deutsche Welle reports in reference to the award decision, “both former prime ministers, but especially the Greeks, have put political logic above their personal careers, without taking into account their tenure in office. Without Tsipras and Zaev, the name dispute would not have ended and the long-running (name dispute) could continue to destabilise the entire Balkan region.”Â
The award was instituted in 1998 by the The Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association (LWL), in memory of the key principles of the Westphalian Peace Agreement in 1648 that sealed the end of the Thirty Years’ War: religious peace and tolerance.Â
The award honours personalities or representatives of states that have become a role model for Europe and the world for their work for peace.
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