The director of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation, Fernando Pizarro, has sent a letter to the ambassador of Colombia to Spain, Eduardo Ávila Navarrete, expressing the Foundation’s solidarity and support for the Colombian people following the devastating earthquake that has affected several regions of the country. (14/08/2026)

In his message, he also extends the Foundation’s “heartfelt sympathy and condolences to those who have lost a loved one, as well as our support and encouragement to those searching for missing persons and to those who have lost their homes and belongings”.

In the letter, Pizarro states that “the strength and resilience of the Colombian people will provide the means to overcome this tragedy” and assures the ambassador that the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation will stand alongside “the beloved Colombian people, with whom we share a bond of brotherhood”.

Director Fernando Pizarro plans meetings with the Provincial Councils and the mayors of Extremadura’s provincial capitals. (07/08/2026)

The director of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation, Fernando Pizarro, has begun a series of meetings with regional and national institutions aimed at strengthening existing partnerships while also exploring new avenues for cooperation, with a view to laying the groundwork for future projects within the Foundation’s areas of activity.

As part of this initiative, Pizarro met with the rector of the University of Extremadura, Pedro M. Fernández Salguero, to explore new forms of collaboration with one of Extremadura’s leading institutions, which is also a member of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

Among the issues discussed was the importance of education in building the Ibero-American community, exploring ways to promote greater collaboration between students and academic staff in Yuste Foundation’s activities.

As part of this initial round of meetings, and following a series of meetings with representatives of the Regional Government of Extremadura, Fernando Pizarro has also met with institutional, academic and religious representatives. During his recent visit to Guadalupe, the director of Yuste Foundation met with the town’s mayor, José Miguel Martín, and with the guardian and custodian of the Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe, friar Vidal Rodríguez. This emblematic monastery hosts numerous conferences and seminars organised by Yuste Foundation, owing to its close historical links with the origins of the encounter between Extremadura and the Americas.

Pizarro has also met with Elvira Prado, Patrimonio Nacional’s representative at the Monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste, and with Father Cristóbal, Prior of the Pauline Order residing at the monastery. Further meetings are planned in the coming weeks with the Provincial Councils, the mayors of Badajoz, Cáceres and Mérida, and the president of the High Court of Justice of Extremadura, María Félix Tena.

Today, the director general for European Affairs and External Action of the Regional Government of Extremadura, Pablo Hurtado, opened the doctoral seminar being held over the next three days at the Monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste. The event is organised by the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation. (22/07/2026)

During his opening remarks, Hurtado highlighted Yuste Foundation’s role as a privileged forum for dialogue, knowledge, and the promotion of European values, placing particular emphasis on the international standing of the Carlos V European Award.

Addressing the researchers, the director general encouraged them to become “an academic community committed to the study of Europe’s major challenges”. He also announced that, from that moment onwards, they would become members of Yuste’s Euro-Ibero-American Alumni Network, as well as ambassadors for both the Foundation and Extremadura.

The director of Yuste Foundation, Fernando Pizarro, for his part, encouraged the researchers to become a “voice” for the values that have always defined the European project: human rights, respect, peace, and equality. “I hope that the knowledge acquired and shared at Yuste will help you, in the future, to build a fairer, more united, and more prosperous Europe”, he concluded.

This doctoral seminar, which brings together experts, academics, and researchers from Spanish universities, including the Universities of Extremadura, Valencia, Almería, Castilla la Mancha, Carlos III, CEU San Pablo, and the Catholic University of Ávila, as well as from other countries such as Chile and Belgium, aims to foster the exchange of knowledge and experience, encourage the development of new collaborative networks, and promote innovative and balanced solutions to one of the key challenges that will shape Europe’s future.

Background

The Carlos V European Award includes the Doctoral Research and Mobility Grants in European Studies, which are awarded to researchers preparing a doctoral thesis. The topic of these grants is adapted for each edition to reflect the recipient’s career and achievements. Selected researchers take part in the Carlos V European Award Doctoral Seminar organised by the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation, and their research is subsequently published by a prestigious academic publisher.

The Carlos V European Award Grants focus on the history, memory, and integration of Europe through the topic chosen by each award recipient, adopting a multidisciplinary approach. To date, more than 100 researchers from across the European Union, as well as from countries including Russia, Morocco, Mexico, Peru, Ukraine, Colombia, Brazil, and Cuba, have benefited from these grants.

The Board of Trustees of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation approved the 2025 annual financial statements and annual activity report on Monday during an online meeting chaired by the president of the Regional Government of Extremadura, María Guardiola Martín. (20/07/2026)

Throughout 2025, Yuste Foundation carried out more than one hundred activities in pursuit of its institutional objectives, consolidating its programme of activities and strengthening its role as a forum for dialogue, reflection, knowledge, and cooperation.

Among the year’s highlights was the presentation of the 18th Carlos V European Award to the former High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and former president of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell. The Campus Yuste educational programme further consolidated its position as an international benchmark, bringing together young people, experts, and academics from around the world to analyse and discuss Europe, Latin America, and global challenges.

Another of Yuste Foundation’s major initiatives is the School of Guadalupe, which promotes dialogue, knowledge, and cooperation between Extremadura, Europe, and Ibero-America. The Foundation also continued to support research through its European Research and Mobility Grants and the Research Prize to Ibero-American Doctoral Theses.

The director general for European Affairs and External Action of the Regional Government of Extremadura, Pablo Hurtado, opened the third and final Campus Yuste course, entitled “Marriage, Empire and Diplomacy: The Dynastic Policy of the Habsburgs (15th–17th Centuries)”, organised by the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation as part of the 27th International Summer/Autumn Courses of the University of Extremadura. (15/07/2026)

For the past ten years, Campus Yuste has devoted one of its courses to exploring the life and era of the Emperor, with the aim of bringing participants closer to this historical figure and to a crucial period for understanding the political, cultural, and social construction of contemporary Europe. On this occasion, “we are turning our attention to marriage policy, one of the most effective instruments of its time because it operated quietly”, the director general stated.

In his view, this form of power transformed dynastic marriages “into instruments of government, diplomacy, and the building of alliances between States”. He added that, in today’s terms, it can be understood as “a genuine form of soft power, quiet, yet extraordinarily effective”.

To conclude, Hurtado expressed his appreciation to the course directors and speakers, while also acknowledging the students, whom he described as “the true driving force behind Campus Yuste”.

Also speaking at the opening ceremony was the director of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation, Fernando Pizarro, who highlighted the outstanding faculty participating in Campus Yuste and the students’ enthusiasm for sharing, debating, and reflecting “on reason and truth”.

Rosa María Martínez de Codes, professor of American History at the Complutense University of Madrid and co-director of the course, also praised the courses devoted to Charles V, describing them as highly successful in terms of “their scope, international reach, and academic quality”.

Finally, Jesús Conde, deputy vice-rector for University Extension at the University of Extremadura, emphasised the international profile of both the speakers and the students as one of Campus Yuste’s greatest strengths, noting that it “makes it possible to connect ideas and share different ways of seeing the world”.

A total of 125 participants from Germany, Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, the United States, Guatemala, Mexico, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Portugal, and the Czech Republic have enrolled in the course.

The course is held with the support of the Regional Government of Extremadura; the Cooperation Network of the European Routes of Emperor Charles V – Cultural Route of the Council of Europe; the European Heritage Label; Patrimonio Nacional; the Provincial Councils of Cáceres and Badajoz; and Mafresa.

“Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean face both the challenge and the tremendous opportunity of preserving their historic relationship while working together to develop responses to an increasingly complex world”. These were the words of Pablo Hurtado, director-general for European Affairs and External Action of the Regional Government of Extremadura, at the opening of the course “UE–LAC Relations: Opportunities and Challenges in a Transforming World”, which is being held until Friday at the Monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste, “a site of European memory from which Yuste Foundation promotes dialogue, reflection and exchange between Europe and Ibero-America”. (08/07/2026)

According to Hurtado, the two regions are looking towards a shared future founded on “knowledge, innovation, university cooperation, culture, science and opportunities for our societies”. In this context, he expressed Extremadura’s commitment to continuing to serve as a bridge through Campus Yuste, “a forum for calmly reflecting on the major shared challenges we must confront”.

At a time of profound transformation, marked by the war in Ukraine, instability in the Middle East, the energy transition and the technological revolution, the director-general called for “Europe’s strategic autonomy without relinquishing the defence of freedom, democracy, the rule of law, human rights, multilateralism and peace”.

For his part, Fernando Pizarro, director of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation, recalled that the Campus Yuste programme forms part of the University of Extremadura’s Summer/Autumn Courses, “the essential framework that provides the academic basis for organising this gathering”, he said.

Fernando Pizarro highlighted the value of these summer courses, noting that they offer students “the opportunity to reflect and broaden the horizons of reason and truth”. Around 130 participants from countries including Belgium, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czechia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Honduras, Mexico, Morocco, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela have registered to attend the second course, either in person or online.

In closing, the director of Yuste Foundation explained that the fundamental purpose of taking part in Campus Yuste is to ensure that “debate and reflection grounded in freedom continue beyond these walls, so that we are able to build peace and a better society, never losing sight of the defence of human rights, the welfare state and lasting peace founded on truth and freedom”.

The opening session also featured Juan Manuel Rodríguez Barrigón, professor of Public International Law and International Relations at the University of Extremadura and director of the course, who placed the course theme in context by explaining that, in light of the continuing crises, realignments and tensions affecting transatlantic relations, “the European Union must give more serious and sustained consideration to the deep and strategic ties it shares with Latin America and the Caribbean”.

In this regard, Barrigón stressed the need for these relations to be underpinned by objectives that go beyond narrow national interests. “Both the European Union and the American states must commit themselves to giving their relationship a robust strategic dimension”, he stated.

Bringing the opening session to a close, the University of Extremadura’s vice-rector for University Extension, Teresa Terrón, underlined the timeliness of the course in the current political landscape. “We are living through a period of profound transformation. A geopolitical shift is shaping our lives. There are major energy challenges, new trade dynamics, and all of this is generating tensions that give rise to international conflicts and are redefining the global order. We cannot remain indifferent to these developments”. In this context, she added, “the relationship between the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean takes on renewed significance”.

The course has been conceived as a forum for strategic reflection and open dialogue bringing together young people, academics, public institutions and civil society. It aims to examine the present and future of relations between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean from a multidisciplinary and intergenerational perspective, with the goal of generating new ideas, promoting public policy proposals, and contributing to stronger bi-regional cooperation capable of addressing today’s major global challenges.

The course forms part of the activities of the project “Cooperación UE–ALC en un Mundo en Transformación: Fortalecimiento Institucional para la Gobernanza Global” (EU–LAC Cooperation in a Translforming World: Institutional Strengthening for Global Governance), which seeks to reinforce institutional capacities, foster bi-regional political dialogue, and strengthen strategic cooperation between the European Union (EU) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in response to an international landscape shaped by profound economic, social, technological and geopolitical change.

More than 130 young people from Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Mauritania, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Uruguay have enrolled in the summer course “The European Union’s Strategic Autonomy in the Face of the Global (Dis)Order”, which was inaugurated today at the Monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste. Of the total number of participants, 50 are attending the course in person. (01/07/2026)

During his address, the director of Yuste Foundation, Fernando Pizarro, expressed his gratitude to the Foundation’s Board of Trustees and to the president of the Regional Government of Extremadura, María Guardiola, for the opportunity to lead this public foundation.

Pizarro also highlighted the work carried out by Yuste Foundation for more than three decades “to promote Extremadura internationally, both in Europe and Ibero-America, and to help the region recover the greatness of the era of Emperor Charles V”.

Meanwhile, Alfonso Pinilla, professor of Contemporary History at the University of Extremadura and co-director of the course, outlined the topics that will be addressed over the three-day programme.

He explained that the course will examine the relationship between the European Union’s ambitions and its capabilities; explore the values underpinning the European integration project; address the EU’s energy autonomy; analyse the relationship between Euroscepticism and the desire of other countries to join the Union; examine its complex relations with the countries of Eastern Europe; and consider the present and future of the welfare state. In addition, the programme will provide an in-depth analysis of the challenges Europe faces in achieving strategic autonomy in defence, concluding with an examination of the European Union’s relationship with China.

Jesús Conde Fuentes, deputy vice-rector for University Extension at the University of Extremadura, highlighted the importance of the International Summer/Autumn Courses, emphasising their significance for both the university community and society as a whole.

The course is directed by Alfonso Pinilla García, professor of Contemporary History at the University of Extremadura, and Jaime Rossell Granados, president of the Extremaduran Council of the European Movement (CEXME). It is organised with the collaboration of the Regional Government of Extremadura, Patrimonio Nacional, the Extremaduran Agency for International Development Cooperation, the Provincial Council of Cáceres, the Provincial Council of Badajoz, and Mafresa.

The Board of Trustees of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation has agreed to propose the appointment of Fernando Pizarro as the Foundation’s new director to the Governing Council of the Regional Government of Extremadura. (15/05/2026)

The decision was taken at a meeting held on Monday under the chairmanship of the president of the Regional Government of Extremadura, María Guardiola, and follows the resignation, at his own request, of Juan Carlos Moreno, who had served as director since 2016.

Fernando Pizarro has extensive experience in the educational, cultural and institutional spheres. A teacher by profession, he has played a prominent public role in recent years as mayor of Plasencia, a position he held from 2011 until his resignation on Monday.

In accordance with Yuste Foundation’s Statutes, the proposal for appointment will be submitted to the Governing Council of the Regional Government of Extremadura for approval.

ACTION PLAN 2026

During the meeting, the Board of Trustees also approved the Foundation’s Action Plan and budget for the 2026 financial year. The programme includes more than fifty activities aimed at strengthening Extremadura’s role as a meeting point between Europe and Ibero-America.

Among the most significant initiatives is a new edition of the Carlos V European Award, which this year has been granted to the European Committee of the Regions in recognition of its contribution to strengthening the European project.

The Foundation will also continue to promote the Campus Yuste training programme, developed in collaboration with the University of Extremadura and established as an international benchmark for academic debate on Europe, Ibero-America and the major global challenges. During the summer of 2026, a number of international courses will be held at the Monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste, focusing on issues such as the strategic autonomy of the European Union, relations between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean, and the dynastic policy of the Habsburgs.

The Foundation’s activities will also continue to be strengthened through the School of Guadalupe, an initiative that promotes dialogue, knowledge-sharing and cooperation between Extremadura, Europe and Ibero-America through congresses, seminars and specialised meetings.

RESEARCH, CULTURE AND INSTITUTIONAL COOPERATION

In the field of research, the Foundation will maintain established programmes such as the Carlos V European Award European Research and Mobility Grants, the Doctoral Seminar, and the Research Prize to Ibero-American Doctoral Theses, all aimed at fostering scientific output and the exchange of knowledge.

The cultural programme will continue to include initiatives such as the Emperor’s Concerts, as well as a range of educational activities designed to bring the realities of Europe and Ibero-America closer to the school community of Extremadura.

The Foundation will also continue to expand its publishing activities through the release of new specialised publications and the publication of the Academy of Yuste’s Newsletter Annual, conceived as a resource for dissemination and reference on the principal debates within its field of activity.

Finally, the Foundation will continue to strengthen its network of cooperation with national and international institutions and organisations, consolidating strategic partnerships that help promote dialogue and the exchange of knowledge between Extremadura, Europe and Ibero-America.

The Board of Trustees, the Academy and the staff of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation mourn the passing of the French philosopher and sociologist Edgar Morin, member of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste. Morin took up the Jean Monnet chair during the ceremony for the awarding of the Carlos V European Award to Helmut Kohl on 20 June 2006. (31/05/2026)

He was born in 1921 in Paris under the name Edgar Nahoum, into a Greek Sephardic Jewish family of Italian origin. Against this family background, Morin always defended his multiple identity as Spanish, French, Italian and European. After the German occupation, he joined the French Resistance to fight Nazism. At that time, he changed his surname to Morin, referring to one of the characters in Man’s Fate by Malraux. War, totalitarianism and the destruction of Europe shaped his thinking and led him to study human contradictions.

Regarded as one of the great intellectuals shaped by Europe in the first half of the 20th century, Morin was an engaged thinker who never avoided the major issues and challenges of his time. He was the creator of the theory of “complex thinking”, which seeks to understand reality in an integrated way, as an interconnected whole, avoiding reductionism, and interpreting social phenomena through the integration of biology, history, sociology and culture.

Morin leaves behind a substantial body of work comprising more than twenty books on sociology, politics, culture and knowledge.

EDGAR MORIN AND YUSTE

Edgar Morin had a close relationship with the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation. Among other activities, he actively participated in the presentation in Paris of the Carlos V European Award to Helmut Kohl in 2006. He took part in the Declaration of the European Academy of Yuste “The Future of Europe: The Citizens’ and Social Europe”, approved in Yuste. In June 2006 he took up the Jean Monnet chair during the ceremony for the awarding of the Carlos V European Award to Helmut Kohl, delivering the speech on behalf of the new academicians.

The French thinker and humanist Edgar Morin expressed great honour at joining the Academy of Yuste, while also defending “a model of European construction based on deepening integration while continuing to enlarge the European Union, as a solution to the remaining stability problems in some European countries, with particular reference to the situation in the Balkans; while recognising the problems arising from this model of unity in diversity”. He was also a member of the jury of the Carlos V European Award in some editions.

King Felipe VI has presented the Carlos V European Award to the president of the European Committee of the Regions, Kata Tüttő, during a solemn ceremony organised by the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation at the Monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste. Once again, this State event has reaffirmed Extremadura as a focal point for European integration. (27/05/2026)

During his address, the King stressed that the European Committee of the Regions “must continue to be a meeting point among Europeans, born of the recognition and affirmation of diversity through its authentic guarantee, which lies in the democratic constitutions of the Member States within the framework of a united Europe”, he said.

For her part, the president of the Regional Government of Extremadura, María Guardiola, argued in her speech that Europe “is built on courage and on words” and underlined that local administrations represent the foundation upon which the European Union rests.

“The idea of Europe reminds us of a child holding a balloon, preventing it from slipping away and disappearing into the sky. That hand holding the string, that seemingly small but constant force, is made up of municipalities and regions”, she said.

President Guardiola also highlighted the work carried out by the European Committee of the Regions as the institution responsible for bringing the voice of territories to the heart of the EU institutions, and stated that its work demonstrates that “cities and regions are not the outskirts of the European project, but a decisive part of its strength”.

For her part, the president of the CoR emphasised the significance of this award, which she believes comes at the right time because it recognises the essential role of local and regional leaders as a “living resilience network of the European Union (…) and as a key factor in ensuring the participation of cities and regions in the European Union’s decision-making process”. In this regard, she called for the protection and strengthening of local and regional structures so that Europe remains strong, democratic and united.

Before the nearly 200 guests attending the ceremony, Kata Tüttő defended a human, understanding and close Europe, built from the bottom up, through cooperation between States, regions and municipalities. “Only in this way will we be able to face the challenges ahead”, she said.

During the presentation ceremony of the Carlos V European Award, former minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, and former Member of the European Parliament, José Manuel García-Margallo, delivered the laudatio. In his address, he stated that Europe remains firmly committed to multilateralism, although, in his view, this is no longer sufficient to keep us safe from the threats that surround us. He therefore proposed “building new forms of cooperation with our partners, such as the United States of Europe”.

 Award Ceremony

The ceremony was attended by the executive vice-president for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition of the European Commission, Teresa Ribera; the president of the Supreme Court of Spain and of the General Council of the Judiciary, Isabel Perelló Doménech; the minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of the Government of Spain, José Manuel Albares; and the secretary of State for the European Union, Fernando Mariano Sampedro Marcos.

The award ceremony was also attended by diplomatic representatives from European embassies and from Ibero-America.

It is worth noting that the Carlos V European Award celebrated its 30^th anniversary in 2025, having been awarded for the first time to Jacques Delors on 6 June 1995. The European Committee of the Regions is the third institution to receive it, after the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe in 2019, and the European Disability Forum in 2022.

The jury, chaired by the president of the Regional Government of Extremadura, highlighted “its contribution to integrating Europe’s cities and regions into the common project, enabling citizens to raise their everyday concerns and issues to the EU institutions, thereby ensuring that European Union legislation incorporates the territorial dimension and respects the principle of subsidiarity”.

In the view of the members of the jury, in times of complexity and polarisation, the Committee of the Regions “has promoted balance, attentive listening, and multi-level and cross-border cooperation. It has also demonstrated that cooperation and territorial diversity are strengths that make Europe fairer, more realistic, and more resilient. Its actions embody the unity in diversity that underpins European integration and guarantee that Europe is also built from its regions and cities”.

The ceremony of the 19^th Carlos V European Award is held with the collaboration of the Regional Government of Extremadura and Patrimonio Nacional. It also enjoys the institutional support of the European Parliament, and the backing of Alimentos de Extremadura, Extremadura Avante, Iberdrola, Telefónica, and Canal Extremadura, which broadcast the event via streaming and satellite.

European Committee of the Regions

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union institution that, for more than three decades, has ensured the structural participation of territories and citizens in the building of the European project. Created by the Maastricht Treaty, the CoR was established with the aim of integrating the local and regional dimension into the EU decision-making process, thereby contributing to a more democratic, cohesive and citizen-oriented Europe.

Following the commemoration of its 30^th anniversary in 2025, the European Committee of the Regions today represents the outcome of a consolidated institutional trajectory, marked by a continuous and growing contribution to the European integration process. Over these three decades, the CoR has established itself as the main institutional forum representing regional and local authorities in the European Union, ensuring that European policies incorporate a realistic, plural territorial perspective based on the direct experience of those who govern and manage territories on the ground.

Carlos V European Award

With this award, Yuste Foundation seeks to recognise the work of individuals, organisations, projects or initiatives that have contributed to the general knowledge and strengthening of Europe’s cultural, social, scientific and historical values, as well as to the process of European construction and integration.

The individuals and initiatives awarded to date are: Jacques Delors (1995); Wilfried Martens (1998); Felipe González (2000); Mikhail Gorbachev (2002); Jorge Sampaio (2004); Helmut Kohl (2006); Simone Veil (2008); Javier Solana (2011); José Manuel Durão Barroso (2014); Sofia Corradi (2016); Marcelino Oreja Aguirre (2017); Antonio Tajani (2018); the project “Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe” (2019); Angela Merkel (2021); the European Disability Forum (2022); António Guterres (2023); Mario Draghi (2024); and Josep Borrell (2025).