Entertainment

Dr. Peter Frey, born in 1957, served as Editor-in-Chief of ZDF from 2010 to 2022. On the program heute journal, he regularly provided commentary on national and international politics. He hosted numerous shows, including Berlin direkt, auslandsjournal, and ZDF-Morgenmagazin, and, together with Bettina Schausten, interviewed all key figures in German politics as part of the series Was nun? (What Now?). Since the 1990s, he conducted 48 interviews with Angela Merkel. Highlights of his television career include the coverage of Barack Obama’s election as U.S. President, the elections and funerals of Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis, as well as the ceremonies surrounding the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Frey also served as a correspondent in Washington and authored the book Von Bagdad nach St. Petersburg, published by Hoffmann und Campe. He began his journalistic career in his early twenties at Südwestfunk radio and for the newspaper Die Zeit, where one of his first features was a report on the writer Anna Seghers and her novel The Seventh Cross. Between 1978 and 1986, he studied political science, Romance studies, and education in Mainz and Madrid, earning a doctorate on Spain’s accession to the European Union. As Editor-in-Chief, Frey actively engaged in dialogue with viewers and critics of public broadcasting. Since his retirement, he has been involved in German-Polish initiatives.

Sabine Rau was born in Cologne and now lives in Berlin. After completing her degree in German Studies, Philosophy and Political Science, she undertook an internship at Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne. This was followed by roles as

Editor on ‘Ich stelle mich’, ‘Aktuelle Stunde’ and ‘Westpol’; in 1996, she moved into federal politics reporting, initially at the Bonn Studio and, from 1999, at ARD’s Berlin studio. Sabine

Rau focused primarily on foreign and security policy issues, particularly during her five years as a correspondent at the ARD Studio in Brussels. The focus there was on features and reports for the ‘Tagesschau’ and ‘Tagesthemen’ programmes on NATO and the EU at the time of the eastward enlargement. This includes travel to war zones and crisis areas, in particular to Afghanistan. After returning to Berlin, she continued her work as a capital city correspondent before taking over as head of the ARD Studio in Paris in 2017, a role that culminated in her coverage of and a documentary on the 2024 Olympic Games.

Jean Asselborn (b. 1949) served as Luxembourg’s Minister of Foreign Affairs for nearly two decades and is widely regarded as one of Europe’s most influential statesmen. A committed European, he has consistently championed freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and the free movement of people, while reminding audiences that these values can never be taken for granted.

A lawyer and member of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP), Asselborn served as Mayor of Steinfort from 1982 to 2004 before becoming Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2004. From 2013 to 2023, he also held the portfolios for European Affairs, Immigration, and Asylum.

His contribution to European cooperation has been recognized with numerous honors, including Germany’s Grand Cross of the Order of Merit, France’s Legion of Honour, and the Franco-German Journalism Prize’s Grand Media Award.