UmbertoEcoYusteHe took possession of the chair in 1998, along with four other renowned intellectuals and scientists.

The Italian novelist and semiologist Umberto Eco, also a member of the European Academy of Yuste, passed away yesterday at the age of 84 in his house in Milan. Eco had been a member of the European Academy of Yuste since 1998 when he took possession of the Plato chair during the ceremony of the Carlos V European Award, with the attendance of the Prime Minister of Belgium, Wilfried Martens.

The Italian novelist and semiologist was appointed academic along with four other renown intellectuals and scientists: the Portuguese author, José Saramago; the English playwright, Peter Levin Shaffer; and German Reinhard Selten and Swiss Heinrich Rohrer, award winners of Nobel Prizes in Economy and Physics. Antonio López was also appointed as an academic on this occasion but could unfortunately not collect the award for being ill. He did, however, collect it on another occasion. The chairs of these first academics bear the names of illustrious Europeans: Christopher Columbus, Shakespeare, Rembrandt, Plato and Cicero.

During the taking of possession, Eco took the floor on behalf of the designated academics and requested that value be restored on the reflection “this world so open to spectacle and distraction”. In a brief and beautiful speech, he reflected on “the European situation” created at that moment and which is still a reality: “An author speaking in French, translating an Italian text for a Spanish audience and with three colleagues who speak German, English and Portuguese.”

During his speech, he made a reference to the model of political man that was Emperor Carlos I of Spain and V of Germany and that, he continued “is an excellent auspice for an academy with a European vocation and that would like a European culture that goes beyond any national differences, an objective reflected in the spirit of Salvador de Madariaga when he spoke about a common Europe”. Eco then asked himself “In what sense do we feel European?” “Above all, when we are far from Europe”, he added and answered his own question: “I believe that one of the endeavours of this academy consists in helping Europeans feel European even when they are in Europe”.

Since his appointment as academic, Umberto Eco has participated in numerous activities and projects organised by the Foundation as a member of the jury of the Carlos V European Award during the years when prizes were awarded to Jorge Sampaio (2004), Helmut Kohl (2006) and Simone Veil (2008). He was also interviewed in edition 5-6 of the Revista Pliegos de Yuste published by the European Academy of Yuste Foundation (http://www.pliegosdeyuste.eu/n5pliegos/11.pdf), and supporting the statements of the European Academy of Yuste on the major challenges experienced by Europe (https://www.fundacionyuste.org/academia/ ).

In an interview granted to The Guardian on the 26th January 2012, Eco expressed his firm support for the Erasmus programme, driven by Sofia Corradi, the new award winner of the Carlos V European Award. In his statement, he affirmed “the Erasmus University exchange programme is hardly mentioned in the business sections of newspapers, yet Erasmus has created the first generation of European youths. I call it the sexual revolution: a young Catalan man meets a Flanders girl; they fall in love, get married and become Europeans, as do their children. The idea of Erasmus must be compulsory -not only for students but also for taxi drivers, plumbers and other workers. With this, I would like to say that they need to spend time in other countries of the European Union and become integrated in such countries”.

The Board, the Members of the Academy and the entire team of the European Academy of Yuste Foundation deeply regret the loss for the European culture of such a great person and intellectual, a thinker and a well and truly convinced Europeanist, sharing the pain that everyone that knew him and read him -and not only his family- are feeling.