Award ceremony in Münster

On 1 October 2026, NATO and the Dortmund-based youth initiative socioMovens received the International Peace of Westphalia Prize at City Hall in Münster. The biennial award, founded in 1998, commemorates the 1648 Peace of Westphalia negotiated in Münster and Osnabrück to conclude the Thirty Years' War. Reinhard Zinkann, chairman of the Economic Society for Westphalia and Lippe, explained that the prize honours an institution that provides reliability and enables peace through stability. SocioMovens was recognised for youth project weeks in Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, and Romania. The €100,000 prize fund is divided between the two recipients. Opening the ceremony, North Rhine-Westphalia Minister-President Hendrik Wüst commended the alliance and noted Germany's commitment to the security spending target agreed at the previous year's summit, which allocates 5% of gross domestic product across 3.5% for defense and 1.5% for infrastructure.

Classic defense3.5

Infrastructure1.5

Classic defense

3.5 % of GDP

Infrastructure

1.5 % of GDP

Data from the article text

Merz warns of Russian military threats

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz delivered the laudation for NATO following a joint visit to the 1st German-Netherlands Corps with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten. Merz described the alliance as a foundational pillar of Euro-Atlantic peace that has safeguarded security for three generations. Framing his address as a keynote foreign policy speech following his February address at the Munich Security Conference, Merz warned of violent Russian revisionism and hybrid attacks. He stated that Russia's war in Ukraine, now lasting nearly five years, threatens the wider continent, outlining risks such as drone warfare over the Baltic states or missile attacks on European urban centres.

“If we fail to stop Moscow, the Russian war machine will sooner or later turn against us, against NATO itself.”

European role in peace talks and domestic cohesion

Merz argued that supporting Ukraine remains essential to German and European security, warning that a Ukrainian defeat would risk forced capitulation, regional destabilisation, and mass migration westward. He declared that Germany will not be divided by Moscow-directed bot networks or political slogans from the Alternative for Germany party. Regarding potential negotiations, Merz stressed that any viable peace process must directly include Ukraine, Russia, the United States, and European nations, ruling out any agreement concluded without European participation or decided over Ukrainian heads.

Security assessments and demonstrations

Mark Rutte accepted the award on behalf of NATO, stating after talks with Merz that he currently sees no direct military threat to the alliance, though allies must remain prepared for continued hostile Russian actions. Outside the venue, approximately 120 demonstrators gathered on Münster's Domplatz under heavy police security to protest the presentation of a peace award to a military alliance. Demonstrators accused NATO of escalating conflict with Russia, while city organisers decorated the Prinzipalmarkt with European flags and opened the ceremony inside the Friedenssaal with the song "What the World Needs Now Is Love".