Peace through cooperation: NATO and socioMovens receive Westphalian Peace Prize
Münster, 5 November 2025 – The Economic Society for Westphalia and Lippe (WWL) awards the International Peace of Westphalia Prize 2026 to NATO. Secretary General Mark Rutte will accept the award on behalf of the organisation. The Youth Prize goes to the organisation socioMovens, Giving Europe a Soul. The prize, worth a total of €100,000, will be awarded in 2026 at the Historic Town Hall in Münster.
"With this award to the NATO alliance, we are honouring an institution that creates reliability, promotes partnership and enables peace through stability in a time of global uncertainty," explains Dr Reinhard Zinkann, Chairman of the Economic Society for Westphalia and Lippe. "The Peace of Westphalia stands for order through understanding and integration. This is exactly what NATO is doing in the 21st century. Under the leadership of Mark Rutte, it shows that military strength and peacekeeping are not contradictory, but mutually dependent."
With this award, the WWL honours NATO's ongoing peace work in the spirit of the legacy of the Peace of Westphalia: "Peace can only be achieved through binding order, balancing interests and institutional reliability," says Dr Reinhard Zinkann. "For more than seven decades, NATO has stood as an alliance for a rules-based security architecture that contains conflicts, prevents escalation and strengthens cooperation."
In its statement, the WWL jury emphasises:
• Peacekeeping through integration and cooperation: The enlargement to include Finland and Sweden strengthened Europe's stability and followed the principle of voluntary partnership between sovereign states.
• Responsible support for Ukraine: NATO coordinates assistance within the framework of international law – in solidarity, but without becoming a party to the conflict itself.
• Long-standing peace missions such as KFOR in Kosovo demonstrate the Alliance's ongoing commitment to security on the ground.
• Inclusive peace policy: With its updated Women, Peace and Security Agenda (2024), the Alliance promotes equality and sustainability in peace processes.
• Resilience as a basis for peace: Through minimum standards for crisis resilience, NATO strengthens the stability of its member states and thus Europe's capacity for peace.
In honouring Secretary General Mark Rutte, the jury also recognises a leader who embodies pragmatism, unity and moderation in times of geopolitical tension. Since taking office in October 2024, Rutte has played a decisive role in ensuring that the Alliance acts in a united and peace-oriented manner.
With the NATO award, WWL is sending a clear signal for transatlantic cooperation. "Only together with our allies can we make peace possible in Europe," says Dr Reinhard Zinkann. "To this end, cooperation with our transatlantic friends is of particular importance, especially in an increasingly multipolar world order."
Youth Prize for socioMovens – Giving Europe a Soul
The Youth Prize of the Westphalian Peace Prize 2026 goes to the organisation socioMovens – Giving Europe a Soul. The youth network, which has its roots in Central and Eastern Europe, promotes social engagement, European understanding and a value-oriented youth culture. In international youth camps and projects, socioMovens conveys the spirit of a united, peaceful Europe – in the spirit of the Peace of Westphalia of 1648.
"The organisation socioMovens gives Europe a soul," says Dr Reinhard Zinkann. With this appeal by Jacques Delors, the organisation has a motto under which numerous social youth project weeks with young people in Central and Eastern Europe have been carried out since 2013. With the aim of shaping the future together through commitment to a humane society, young people get involved in these weeks together with their local church institutions and volunteers. The weeks focus on a specific social or environmental theme and are implemented in cooperation with the socioMovens Foundation and Kommende Dortmund, the social institute of the Archdiocese of Paderborn. The international partner association socioMovens e.V. manages membership and supports the foundation.
During the project weeks, young people experience the value of community in an intensive way. Motivated by experiential learning and informal learning, they explore their respective project topics and discover that they can contribute to making our world more just, peaceful and united. With this goal in mind, they remain connected in local engagement communities and share their experiences in the European network of socioMovens.
