COMUNICACIÓN

Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel.

The European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation has organized the Carlos V European Award Doctoral Seminar on Multidisciplinary Studies on Contemporary Europe–Angela Merkel, entitled “The Fortune of Being United: Securing and Strengthening Europe’s Cohesion”, which will bring together eighteen researchers from Cuba, Spain, Bulgaria, and Malaysia, as well as experts from Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Serbia, Belgium, and Peru, from June 23 to 26, at the Monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste. (18/06/2025)

The objective of this meeting is to analyse and debate this fundamental policy in the European Union integration process, to study its economic impact, and its social and territorial dimensions. Subsequently, the papers presented will be published in the “Cuadernos de Yuste” book collection, edited by Yuste Foundation.

Some of the topics to be presented at the doctoral seminar include: the impact of cohesion policy on the legitimacy of the European Union and on freedom of movement in the integration process; how public healthcare systems are preparing to face future pandemics; and the European Union’s cooperation process with third countries on immigration issues.

The seminar programme is enriched by contributions from various professors and experts such as Franco Panciera, head of Public and Institutional Relations at the European Parliament Office in Spain; Jürgen Elvert, Jean Monnet Chair of European History at the University of Cologne; Enrique Moradiellos, professor of Contemporary History at the University of Extremadura and member of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste; Bettina Steible, professor of Public Law at the Open University of Catalonia and member of Yuste’s Euro-Ibero-American Alumni Network; and Éric Bussière, Jean Monnet Chair of European Integration at Sorbonne University Paris IV (France), among others.

The selected researchers become part of Yuste’s Euro-Ibero-American Alumni Network, which aims to facilitate the exchange of projects and information among researchers specialising in European topics who have been awarded one of the Carlos V European Award Grants. To date, more than 100 researchers have benefited from these grants, and they are now affiliated with leading universities, institutions, and research centres in countries such as Germany, Belgium, Brazil, Cyprus, Cuba, Spain, France, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and Russia.

The Doctoral Seminar is held in collaboration with the Regional Government of Extremadura, the Provincial Councils of Cáceres and Badajoz, Patrimonio Nacional, the University of Extremadura, and the European Parliament Office in Spain.

Research and Mobility Grants for European Studies

The Carlos V European Award includes the granting of Doctoral Research and Mobility Grants for European Studies, aimed at researchers who are working on a doctoral thesis related to the history, memory, and integration of Europe. These studies must align with the topic chosen by the awardee of each edition and adopt a multidisciplinary approach.

The topic of these grants is adapted in each edition to the curriculum of the awardee, and on this occasion the focus is on cohesion policy as a fundamental pillar for promoting balanced development and fostering solidarity for the stability and advancement of European integration.

Each scholarship has an individual endowment of €2,500, which serves to finance study and research, mobility to carry out said research, and the preparation of the contributions that must be presented within the framework of the Carlos V European Award Doctoral Seminar on Multidisciplinary Studies on Contemporary Europe taking place at the Monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste; the preparation of the research papers within the framework of the call, which will later be published in a joint volume by the Yuste Foundation; the mobility of the researchers in order to participate in the seminar; and, finally, to attend the presentation of the publication.

 Angela Merkel, Carlos V European Award 2021

The jury of the 14^th edition of the Carlos V European Award, granted by the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation, awarded the prize to former German chancellor Angela Merkel “in recognition of her long political career in the service of Europe, having been a strong supporter of the European integration process and of the important strategic role of Europe in the international scene”.

The former chancellor publicly announced the chosen topic “The Fortune of Being United: Securing and Strengthening Europe’s Cohesion” during her speech at the Monastery of Yuste, urging the continued safeguarding and strengthening of Europe’s cohesion — “a fortune that we must preserve and continue to shape”, she stated.

At that time, she also expressed great curiosity and said she was “eager” to see the work presented by the grant recipients, as she stated her “deep conviction that Europe is a stroke of good fortune for all of us — a fortune that we can, but also must, preserve and shape. This is a responsibility we should be aware of every day”, she concluded.