The 12th edition of the Charles V European Award will be presented to European Parliament President Antonio Tajani in Yuste, Spain, on May 9.
Honoured to receive the award, Tajani said: “I dedicate it to European citizens, the real protagonists of the EU’s efforts to achieve peace, freedom and prosperity.”
The jury stated that, “in the various positions that Antonio Tajani has held in the European Parliament and the European Commission, he has worked for a more competitive Europe that guarantees an effective model of sustainable, ecological and strategic growth. He has also fought terrorism to enable European citizens to live in greater security and to regain confidence in European institutions at a difficult time in the construction process, defending the legal framework of the European Union and rule of law as bulwarks against the continuing challenges that it faces.”
The European and Ibero-American Academy Foundation of Yuste received 41 proposals from 32 organisations in eight European Union countries: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The prize-winner was nominated by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the CEU-San Pablo University.
The Charles V European Award was created to reward the work of those individuals, organisations, projects or initiatives which, through their efforts and dedication, have contributed to the general knowledge and enhancement of the cultural, social, scientific and historical values of Europe, as well as to the process of European construction and integration.
Previous winners include Jacques Delors, Wilfried Martens, Felipe González, Mikhail Gorbachev, Helmut Kohl, Simone Veil and José Manuel Barroso.
