Toespraak van Prins Constantijn ter gelegenheid van de opening van de World Press Photo tentoonstelling in Brussel, 8 december 2009

Toespraak | 08-12-2009

Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Welcome to the opening of the 2008 World Press Photo Exhibition in Brussels.

The Exhibition arrives in the heart of Europe at a special moment in time. The Union turned a momentous page on 1 December. With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty Europe's citizens receive strengthened rights vis-à-vis the Union's institutions. More domains have been brought into what used to be the first pillar, decision making will be streamlined, and the Union appointed new 'faces' that should improve the EU's visibility towards its citizens and the world at large. The hopes are high for this next phase of European integration; hope for improvements in the EU's effectiveness in dealing with the vast social, economic and political challenges within the EU. Hope for a more affirmative role of the EU on the global stage.

As a result I expect World Press Photo will find the European Union and its institutions an even better friend and stronger partner in a joint quest promoting [as the Universal Declaration of Human rights states], that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; that this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

This World Press Photo Exhibition is an expression of that powerful idea, which we hold so dearly in Europe.

Since 1955 World Press Photo has pursued its mission - encouraging the highest professional standards and promoting a free and unrestricted exchange of information - by organizing the world's largest and most prestigious annual international contest of photojournalism. The prizewinning photographs are presented in a traveling exhibition that is visited by over two million people in some 45 countries worldwide.

It is a platform for storytelling and modern journalism. Photographed images have ways to convey messages that words and print cannot express. This is a particularly important characteristic in contexts where words and print fall silent, or where they are forced into silence. Photojournalism plays a critically important role in our societies by investigating all that fears exposure.

WPP pays tribute to the engagement of photographers. We are invited to admire photographers for their technical prowess, for avoiding the trivial in search of the profound. We are reminded to pay deep respect to those photographers that risk their lives to tell a story, by selecting and capturing images of injustice, suffering, cruelty, but also of hope, beauty and diversity.

The exhibition and past WPP prize winning photographs, demonstrate how powerful such images can be, as they find their way into our collective memories. Some have a soothing effect: we can rest secure in the knowledge that the event lies behind us, that the outcome is known and that nothing we can say or do will change that. Other pictures inspire us to reflect and perhaps re-order priorities: they remind us; they do not allow us to forget; they speak on behalf of those captured in the image; they call for a response; they move us to do something.

Especially in Brussels which is so intertwined with EU policy making, I see this important triggering role of the exhibition. We are reminded of the real world out there and the interrelatedness of our policies. We are called to reflect and act in our different capacities, as politicians, 'fonctionnaires', journalists, policy researchers, consultants, etc. - to deliver policies that matter and have concrete positive impacts.

As the jury was meeting in Amsterdam last year, I was wondering what would be the theme of this year's winner. Perhaps the financial crisis? But how to capture a phenomenon that is so global, complex, and intangible? I thought of images of workers losing their jobs because of stalling exports; or traders screaming in despair on the trading floors; bankers, staring in disbelief during a congressional hearing.

I never imagined the winning picture we see before us today. Although perhaps - with hindsight- I should have. The financial crises at its roots: a poor man overleveraging himself to buy a house in Ohio USA. The authorities go after the cause of the crisis with all the power it has, only to find that this crisis cannot be fought with guns. Even though - as Anthony Suau describes - this looks like 'a particular type of war zone'. The complexity of the financial crisis means that we are all involved - home owner, consumer, banker, policymaker, journalist, artist, politician - having profited in the past and suffering today. Maybe the absurdity of the image helps us realize that for solutions we need to go beyond traditional methods and look over the horizon; to a place where we cannot aim a gun, but where we need trust and must work together. I hope you will enjoy the exhibition for the quality of the pictures, for the professionalism of the photographers, and for the stories told. I also hope you, both as individuals and as European policy makers, feel inspired. The World Press Photo of the Year 2008 invites us to project our ideas and associations into it. It becomes detached from the factual context - a policeman checking an empty home. It makes us stop and think, and that is precisely what a good picture does.

Thank you.