The Historical Archives of the European Union (HAEU) welcomed Viviane Reding to its premises on 11 November 2025. The Luxembourgish politician has had a long and distinguished career in the European institutions, serving as a Member of the European Parliament, and later as European Commissioner for Education and Culture, for Information Society and Media, and for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, eventually becoming Vice-President of the Commission from 2010 to 2014. She is currently the President of the Fondation du Mérite Européen.
Ms Reding was visiting the European University Institute (EUI) campus to deliver the annual Ursula Hirschmann Lecture and to inaugurate a special exhibit on the life of Pierre Werner, recognised as one of the fathers of the euro. Pierre Werner was a mentor to Ms Reding in the earlier stages of her career. These activities complemented the conference “Women and Europe – Interdisciplinary approaches, innovative prospects, new sources”, organised by the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History at the University of Luxembourg, the Alcide de Gasperi Research Centre, the Historical Archives, and the Robert Schuman Centre, with the support of the Robert Schuman Initiative for European Affairs at the University of Luxembourg.
At the Archives, Ms Reding was accompanied by Dieter Schlenker, Director of the Archives, Agnès Brouet, archivist, and Aude Foucoin, EUI researcher from the Department of History.
Ms Reding had the opportunity to examine archival files selected from the HAEU’s institutional holdings pertinent to her career in the European institutions. The former vice-president’s passion to further justice, democracy and human rights were evident in her commentary on the documents, which provided valuable and fascinating historical context. The visit also included a presentation by Aude Foucoin on elements from her dissertation research for her thesis “Women in the High Authority of the ECSC and the European Commission 1952-1995”.
In the message she left in the Archives' guest book, Ms Reding wrote “thank you for preserving and analysing the past, because without this knowledge, building the future becomes arbitrary.”