Important historical milestones

August 22, 1990
Creation of the ASKO Europa-Stiftung as a foundation with legal capacity under civil law by the ASKO Deutsche Kaufhaus AG and the ASKO Vereinigung e. V.

October 18, 1990
Approval of the foundation by the Saarland Ministry of the Interior.

October 5, 1990
Constituent meeting of the Board of Trustees. Arno Krause is elected Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

January 10, 1991
Announcement of the foundation in the Official Journal of the Saarland.

January 3, 1992
Recognition of the non-profit status of the foundation.

July 31, 1996
Fusion of the ASKO Deutsche Kaufhaus AG and METRO AG marking the separation of the ASKO Europa-Stiftung from the donating company.
The ASKO Europa-Stiftung is now an independent foundation.

May 2, 2005
Klaus-Peter Beck is appointed Chairman of the Board of Trustees and succeeds Arno Krause, who is retiring from the Board of Trustees upon reaching the age of 75, in accordance with the statutes.
In order to honor his outstanding commitment to the foundation, Arno Krause is appointed Honorary Chairman of the ASKO Europa-Stiftung.

October 5, 2020
In accordance with the charter, Klaus-Peter Beck withdraws from his office as Chairman of the Board of Trustees upon reaching retirement age. A new foundation charter comes into force. It provides for two foundation bodies: the Executive and the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees is the supervisory and advisory body; the Executive is the managing body of the foundation.

Where we come from / Who we are

In the early 1970s the ASKO Saar-Pfalz was transformed into the ASKO Aktiengesellschaft, a process which was significantly influenced by the then Chairman of the Supervisory Board Arno Krause and the Chairman of the Management Board Dr. Helmut Wagner. This also laid the foundation for the company's continuously growing civic commitment to vocational and civic education in close cooperation with the Europäische Akademie Otzenhausen, which had been founded by Arno Krause already in 1954.

ASKO’s cooperative spirit had been its guiding value for decades and was not to be lost, under any circumstances, in the joint-stock company. Its international and European standards for cooperation were future-oriented and in line with the principles of a free, socially oriented market economy and the political developments towards the European Economic Community.

With the founding of the ASKO Europa-Stiftung in 1990, the ASKO AG and the ASKO Vereinigung e. V. took an important step towards securing and further expanding their commitment to civil society in the long term.

Priority was given to the following basic principles, which have lost none of their significance up to this day:

  • Promoting educational activities and events related to the development and consolidation of the European idea – among other purposes as a model for other world regions -, which should in particular be carried out at the Europäische Akademie Otzenhausen.
  • Deepening of the Franco-German reconciliation, with selected programs and the Franco-German Dialogue as their culmination.
  • Promoting the development of the Greater SaarLorLux Region.

However, the ASKO Europa-Stiftung is not limited to these basic principles. Rather, it decides independently on the fulfilment of its statutory objectives and has made its mark on the work of the foundation by changing its priorities in recent years.

By way of example, its specific orientation towards growing internationality since 2002 has included the establishment of international study programs and, subsequently, the constant expansion of an international university network.

Over the years and based on increased scientific knowledge, it has become apparent that a future-oriented development of the world will only be successful if a transformation of all societies towards sustainable development is promoted, especially through education for sustainable development.
In 2006, another priority of the Foundation's work was given to the "Encouraging Sustainability” project which has been supported by the Forum für Verantwortung foundation, the Europäische Akademie Otzenhausen and the ASKO Europa-Stiftung.

In 2012, the educational and programmatic work of the ASKO Europa-Stiftung was further developed at the Europäische Akademie Otzenhausen.
In cooperation with the Europäische Akademie Otzenhausen (which is responsible for the operative implementation) the findings, results and initiatives of the foundation's work have since been made available for activities and discussion forums on European education and the manifold topics of sustainability.

By decision of the bodies of the Stiftung Europrofession (a partner foundation based in Saarbrücken) and the ASKO Europa-Stiftung, the two foundations were merged in 2014. The statutory objectives of the Stiftung Europrofession were integrated into the statutes of the ASKO Europa-Stiftung. The ASKO Europa-Stiftung was strengthened by the transfer of the assets of the Stiftung Europrofession, which allowed it to pursue its tasks consistently and purposefully.

The ASKO Europa-Stiftung continues to concentrate its operational activities on project initiatives, national and international educational programs and the selection and promotion of projects in accordance with its statutory objectives.

It also remains a priority to convince civil societies of the implementation and strengthening of a united, democratic, sustainable, peaceful and free Europe through appropriate events, activities and support.