Frankfurt - Italian author Claudio Magris, 69, on Monday received a top German award for ideas.
The 20,000-euro (26,000-dollar) Walter Hallstein Prize was presented in the city of Frankfurt.
"My dream is of a European state," said Magris. He said the important problems could no longer be solved at national level.
Joschka Fischer, a former German foreign minister, eulogized Magris at the ceremony as "a great European intellectual."