Ein großer Abend für die Fonds

Ladies and gentlemen, dear guests, dear friends

On behalf of the Editpress group and its battleship Tageblatt and on behalf of the Morning Star society, I bid you a very warm welcome at this charming location known as the Cercle Münster.
Our group Editpress, by the way, is not only a shareholder of the Cercle Münster, but also a founding member of what might be considered a club in the best light of British tradition.
To start with, I want to draw a picture of the newspaper I am in charge of in order to deliver you a light view of the philosophy it represents.
The Tageblatt was founded in 1913 and has since then survived two world wars, black Fridays and the crash of 1929 and I feel entitled to believe it will also survive today’s crisis, an outlook which might not be shared by the entire community of the financial world as you will certainly agree.
The Tageblatt is a „liberal“ publication in its pure philosophical meaning. This means that it is a daily newspaper attached to progress, known for its open mindedness, appreciated for its humanitarian spirit and its tolerance.
The Tageblatt is a publication that expresses, drives and stirs opinions, this is its deliberate choice and its firm determination.
In the thirties, for instance, it raised its concerns about both the threat by the Hitler and the Staline regimes long before others did, it also condemned Mussolini, Franco and Salazar.
It has battled for the creation of a State of Israel, just as it does today for the creation of a State of Palestine. It never stopped accusing Apartheid and was the target of heavy criticism during the Vietnam war for expressing opinions nowadays unanimously shared by all nations all over the world.
So, you will not be surprised after all when I tell you that my publication has voiced more than one concern about the boundless deregulation in an environment of an immature and erroneous globalisation which led to the financial disasters that are now affecting, to various degrees, the democratic foundations of the Western economies.
We all agree that the strive for benefits and gains is an inherent driving gear of the economies. On the other hand, we have to agree that the quest for benefits in an unhealthy proportion to and beyond the reality of the economic context some manufacturing companies are operating under, is senseless, cynical and morally questionable.
This is an example of how the Tageblatt positions itself. It will never stop doing so and it will always voice its concerns. Remaining silent has never been its vocation.
Tonight, however, we gathered to celebrate and to give credit to fund companies and to award funds which, I am told, are going really well. So I declare the Luxembourg Fund Award Ceremony 2009 open.