The special ceremony for the Themistokles Award of the Department of International & European Studies at the University of Piraeus was successfully held on Thursday, 18 December 2025, at 18:00, in the Ceremonial Hall of the Eugenides Foundation. The award was presented to the European Union Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, Mr. Apostolos Tzitzikostas.
The event was addressed by the Rector of the University of Piraeus, Professor Michail Sfakianakis, and the Chair of the Department of International and European Studies, Professor Aristotelis Tziampiris, while the Director of the MSc Programme “International and European Studies”, Professor Fotini Asderaki, presented the work and achievements of the honouree.
This was followed by the award presentation and the lecture of Mr. Tzitzikostas, titled “Crises as the Foundation of European Progress”. Among other remarks, the Commissioner emphasized:
“If there is a line connecting Themistocles with 21st-century Europe, it is the belief in the ability of citizens and societies to change history when they cooperate. Themistocles convinced a city to rethink the way it saw itself. Europe convinced states to dare something unprecedented in history: to share sovereignty, to build common institutional tools, and to design a future that transcends national boundaries. That is the true European miracle. Not the numbers, not the programmes, not the financial instruments—these are the means. The miracle is the very possibility of 27 peoples jointly building responses to problems that no single country can face alone… I sincerely thank you for the honour and hospitality, and for your tremendous contribution to the academic and public life of our country and Europe. And I thank you most of all for something else: for the constant reminder that the future, ours and Europe’s, will always belong to those who dare to look far ahead.”
