The Bonn International Democracy Prize (IDP) celebrated this year's birthday of our Basic Law with a special guest. The focus of the ceremony was a lecture by Prof. Dr. Isabel Schnabel, member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB), one of the most renowned voices in European financial policy. The professor of financial economics and former member of the German Council of Economic Experts spoke on the topic of "Financial literacy and monetary policy". A topic that could hardly be more topical, as transparency and trust in economic processes are cornerstones of our democracy.

Prof. Dorothee Dzwonnek, Chair of the IDP, comments: "Every day we read about new customs policies, new cryptocurrencies and gain the impression even more than usual that money rules the world and is therefore also interfering with our democratic foundations. We look forward to discussing with an expert how we can manage to protect our values, our rule of law and our democracy despite aggressive monetary policy."

The event took place as part of the IDP event series "Democracy thrives on participation" with the region's universities, this time in collaboration with the Hochschule für Finanzwirtschaft & Management.