08/23/2012 - Prominent German public figures take a stand for the European idea to counter growing skepticism caused by the Euro-crisis. Siding former chancellor Helmut Schmidt, the national soccer team's captain Philipp Lahm, and Daimler’s chairman Dieter Zetsche, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), is taking part in a large-scale campaign. “Europe is reducing CO2 emissions more decisively than any other continent in the world" – that is his statement to promote European unity.
The initiative is launched by a group of eleven big German foundations, from Stiftung Mercator and Robert Bosch Stiftung to Allianz Kulturstiftung and Bertelsmann Stiftung. Many media are spreading the messages via online channels, TV, and print. Amongst the partners there is RTL as well as Süddeutsche Zeitung or Google. The President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Joachim Gauck, has assumed the patronage of the campaign.
