During the ceremony the dean of the Faculty of Humanities prof. Ilze Rūmniece in laudatio devoted words of recognition to the outstanding contribution of prof. G.Stickel to the development of German linguistics and language policy as well as the cooperation of language institutions in Europe.
In his address to the audience prof. Gerhard Stickel told: “Working for the Europe of languages has been the main content of my professional life since at least 15 years after I had realized with linguists and philologists from other countries that the linguistic diversity of Europe is essential for the cultural diversity and wealth of our continent and that the future of each of our own languages is inevitably bound to the future of the other languages. I am not sure if we could achieve much in all these years, since the development of languages does not depend to a substantial degree on what linguists think and publish about them. However, my European colleagues and I have joined in the effort to give professional advice to language policy makers in our countries and the institutions of the European Union. Therefore, I gratefully and gladly accept the great honor bestowed on me by the Latvian University. I do not take it only as a personal award – though I am also proud to take it as that – but I would like to also understand it as an encouragement to continue with my colleagues our work for Europe and its languages.”