As of: February 15, 2024, 11:44 a.m
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Chancellor Olaf Scholz gives a press conference in the Federal Chancellery.
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa/archive image
It is considered to be the oldest feast still taking place in the world: the Matthiae meal in Hamburg's town hall.
Traditionally, important guests of honor are invited.
This year too there will be important visitors.
Hamburg - Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas are the guests of honor at the traditional Matthiae meal in Hamburg City Hall this year.
Next Tuesday you will speak to around 400 representatives from politics, business, science and culture as well as the entire consular corps, as the Senate of the Hanseatic city announced on Thursday.
The Matthiae meal has been historically documented since 1356 and is therefore the oldest still celebrated feast in the world.
Kallas, who has ruled Estonia since 2021, is resolutely committed to European values even in the face of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the Senate said.
Her visit is intended to deepen Hamburg's relations with Estonia.
Russia had previously put Kallas and other high-ranking politicians from the Baltic states on a wanted list at the beginning of the week.
The Russian authorities accuse them of demolishing Soviet war memorials.
Last year, the NATO Supreme Commander in Europe, General Christopher Cavoli, and the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Helga Maria Schmid, were guests of honor at the town hall.
Back then, too, the Ukrainian war was the focus of the feast.
dpa