From the first step on the red carpet to the final note of the closing performance, the 2025 Global Citizen Awards lit up New York on Wednesday night as the must-attend event of the week. Some seven hundred leaders, dignitaries, changemakers, and celebrities filled the Ziegfeld Ballroom in Midtown Manhattan for the Atlantic Council’s flagship annual event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
The point of the evening, Atlantic Council Chairman John F.W. Rogers explained, was to recognize and honor three global leaders “who have taken up the call to serve a purpose greater than oneself.” Those honorees were Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) President Gianni Infantino, Argentinian President Javier Milei, and French President Emmanuel Macron. Each one, Rogers said, exemplifies a dedication to duty, and the character and contributions of each have “transcended the obligations of their own circumstances.”
“Today, we stand at a critical juncture in history,” Rogers continued. “Authoritarian regimes are on the rise, leveraging new technologies and innovations to strengthen their grip on power and undermine democratic values.” It is incumbent upon leaders and citizens alike, Rogers said, to help “articulate a vision of the world that enables democracies to thrive in this new era.”
Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe emphasized that “sometimes we don’t understand how high the stakes are right now.” Kempe gave a call to action to the many leaders in the high-powered room, from business to government to the military to civil society: “You all have agency, you all can shape this future.”
Below are more highlights from the evening celebrating these three leaders.
Emmanuel Macron: “You can love your country and love to cooperate with others”
- The French president accepted his Global Citizen Award with an impromptu reflection on what that phrase—global citizen—means today. To him, it means a deep patriotism in one’s own country, but it need not mean a strident nationalism. “You can love your country and love to cooperate with others,” Macron said.
- The eightieth United Nations General Assembly was an opportunity to reflect on the larger international order that came out of World War II, Macron remarked. “We built this order to have peace, prosperity, and democracy,” he said—and not just so we have them, but that future generations might as well. Each of these elements, he added, is threatened today.
- Peace was shattered by Russia’s war on Ukraine, which is “an existential war” for Europeans as well, Macron said. “Our duty as free nations, as members of the United Nations, it’s clearly to back the Ukrainians in this resistance, to back the Ukrainians in order not just to resist but to recover their territory and their integrity.”
- For Europeans, Macron said, respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty while working toward peace applies both to Ukraine and to the Middle East.
- While calling for Hamas to return the hostages taken from Israel on October 7, 2023, Macron spoke about the urgent need for a cease-fire and about France’s recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations two days earlier. “If we believe that we live in a global order, we should never accept a double standard,” the French president said.
- On the state of democracy around the world, Macron said, “I’m not so sure we’re in good shape.” Social media, he explained, has had profoundly negative effects on younger generations and on political discourse. “We were definitely too naïve,” Macron said of social media’s rise. Now, algorithm-driven feeds are “pushing people to the extremes,” and regulation is needed “if we want to be . . . speaking about democratic values in a few years’ time in this room.”
- “I don’t want my democracy to be driven by an algorithm,” he added.
- “No French leader has led his country at a more pivotal time since World War II,” BlackRock Chairman and CEO Laurence D. Fink said of Macron. The French president has helped his country shake off a persistent sense of stagnation, Fink explained. “Today, when I visit France, when I meet the business leaders of France, when I meet the government of France, I hear something so different,” he added. This shift is due to Macron, Fink explained, who is intent on “pushing the country forward.”
Watch the full speech:
Javier Milei: “Now is the time to build on the foundations we have laid”
- “When we took office in December 2023, we found a patient in critical condition. The Argentine Republic was on the brink of the worst crisis in its history,” Milei said as he accepted the Global Citizen Award. “From the very first moment, it was clear to us that we needed to take drastic measures to avoid falling over the cliff.”
- These drastic measures took the form of reining in government spending, the president explained, which meant carrying out the difficult shift from persistent fiscal deficits to, now, consecutive budget surpluses.
- Neither the fiscal discipline nor the reforms that followed have been easy, Milei noted. And neither have been without political opposition. Yet, he said, “We know we are on the right track. We’re applying ideas that have made other countries prosperous and that triggered our own golden age in the early twentieth century.”
- In accepting his award, the president was quick to credit the resilience and trust of the Argentinian people. They support his government’s efforts, he said, because they are “convinced that this time will be different precisely because nothing that we’re doing now has been tried before in our country in the last century.”
- “Everything we have done is but the foundation of the country we want,” Milei said, adding later that “now is the time to build on the foundations we have laid. It is a time to stay the course and to carry out the remaining reforms to grow once and for all.”
- Introducing Milei, US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent put his finger on what made the honoree unique: “One man recognized that government was not the solution; it was the problem. One man had the courage to stand up for Argentina by standing against the establishment, and that man stands with us this evening.”
- Milei has “transformed Argentina for the better,” Bessent said, adding that “like President [Donald] Trump, he has empowered the Argentinian people by making sure the government serves them, not the other way around.”
Gianni Infantino: “Let’s just bring people together more”
- Flanked by the World Cup trophy and cradling a football, Infantino previewed next year’s World Cup, which will be played across stadiums in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Infantino said he expects some seven million spectators, with millions more joining to participate in the festivities and six billion watching from around the world.
- “It will be not just the biggest sporting event, but the biggest social event the world has ever seen,” Infantino said. “And God knows, we need today to have occasions to unite the world.”
- “Our game, football, is about joy, about happiness, about smile, about passion, about emotion,” Infantino said. “But of course, also about discipline, about respect, about team spirit, about resilience. These are all positive values that children learn when they grow up playing football, playing the game. You learn to win as a team, but you learn as well to lose.”
- Infantino noted that with 211 countries, FIFA has a larger membership than the United Nations. “They all share the same passion. They all share the same love. They all share the same enthusiasm for this ball, for this game.”
- But Infantino noted that we still live in a “divided world,” lamenting the suffering in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Libya, and beyond. “We need peace in the world,” he said. “The secret, probably, like for anything else in life, is to believe in it and to work for it. So let’s just work more. Let’s just bring people together more.”
- Former NFL quarterback Tom Brady, who quipped that he only kicked the ball three times during his American football career, took the stage to introduce Infantino: “Under Gianni’s leadership, football has reached farther and welcomed more people in.” Infantino, Brady said, has “championed inclusion and access, making sure the beautiful game belongs to everyone. From new fans to diehards—you know, the guy with the drum at every match. There’s always the guy with the drum.”
John Cookson is the New Atlanticist editor at the Atlantic Council.
Daniel Malloy is the managing editor at the Atlantic Council.
Further reading
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Image: Atlantic Council Chairman John F.W. Rogers speaks at the 2025 Atlantic Council Global Citizen Awards in New York City on September 24, 2025.