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).

The European and Ibero-American Academy of  Yuste Foundation, in collaboration with the Iberian Film Festival of Badajoz, has opened the application period to join the Young Jury for the festival’s 32^nd edition. (20/05/2026) 

This initiative aims to encourage the active participation of young people in the audiovisual and film sector.

The call is open to young people aged between 18 and 30 residing in Extremadura.

The selected jury will be responsible for awarding the ‘Luis Alcoriza’ Prize for best short film in the festival’s official section, which will take place from 6 to 10 July 2026 in the towns of Badajoz, Olivenza and San Vicente de Alcántara.

Conditions and registration:

Registration: Available from 20 May to 15 June 2026 through the official form at www.festivaldecine.com

Selection process: Applicants will take a basic film analysis test organised by the festival.

Responsibilities and benefits: Selected participants must attend all official competition screenings. They will receive free access to all festival activities and an official certificate accrediting their status as members of the 2026 Young Jury.

With the aim of contributing to the promotion of democracy, respect for human rights, peace and international harmony, the Ministry of Defence, the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation, and the University of Extremadura have organised the “Security and Defence Sessions. 21st Century. The Era of Global Uncertainty?”, held on 15 and 16 April in the Plenary Hall of the Provincial Council of Badajoz. (16/04/2026)

More than 160 people registered for these sessions, attending both in person and online from Germany, Argentina, Cuba, Ecuador, Spain, Guatemala, Israel, Mexico, Paraguay, and Sweden.

The opening session featured the director-general for External Action of the Regional Government of Extremadura, Pablo Hurtado, who underscored Extremadura’s European and Ibero-American identity as a means of having “a voice of its own” in the face of global uncertainty in the 21^st century. In his view, it is precisely this dual identity that should enable Extremadura to help “build bridges, foster mutual understanding, and promote a shared vision of security based on cooperation, development, and democratic values,” he said.

In his remarks, Hurtado highlighted the value of the institutional cooperation that made these sessions possible, placing particular emphasis on the work of Yuste Foundation as a leading forum for analysis and for its “ability to forge strong and lasting partnerships”.

Over the course of two days, military personnel and experts analysed the current global geopolitical context, with particular emphasis on the European and Ibero-American strategy. They also reflected on the role of law in the transformation of the international order, on the importance of security in the face of current challenges, and brought into focus the role of the Sahel as a frontier between Europe and Africa.

These issues were addressed by the Spanish ambassador Francisco Javier Rupérez; Portugal’s minister of National Defence (2015–2018), José Alberto Azeredo; professor of Public International Law and International Relations, Cástor Díaz; brigadier general of Infantry and director-general of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies (IEES), Francisco José Dacoba; army colonel and analyst at the IEES, Pedro Sánchez; and associate professor of Public International Law and International Relations at the University of Extremadura, Juan Manuel Rodríguez.

These institutions have been working together for several years in organising academic activities, among which these sessions, focused geographically on Europe and Ibero-America, are of particular importance.

Accordingly, Yuste Foundation places this activity within the framework of the School of Guadalupe, a free and open centre for reflection and research on history, law, and international relations.

For its part, the Ministry of Defence promotes the development of a culture of security and defence with the aim of ensuring that Spanish society understands, values, and identifies with its history and with the effective and collective efforts through which the Armed Forces safeguard national interests.

The European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation is offering a total of 105 grants with the aim of covering tuition fees as well as accommodation and subsistence costs for participants in the Campus Yuste summer courses, which form part of the 27th edition of the International Summer–Autumn Courses of the University of Extremadura. The grants will be awarded through a competitive selection process. (15/04/2026)

The courses are as follows: “The European Union’s Strategic Autonomy in the Face of Global (Dis)Order”, which will take place from 1 to 3 July; “European Union–Latin America and the Caribbean Relations: Opportunities and Challenges in a Changing World”, to be held from 8 to 10 July; and finally, “Marriage, Empire and Diplomacy: The Dynastic Policy of the Habsburgs (15th-17th Centuries)”, which will take place from 15 to 17 July. All of them will be held at the Monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste.

Those eligible to benefit from the grants set out in this call are individuals who, by the closing date for applications, hold the nationality of a Member State of the European Union, as well as nationals of third countries, provided they can demonstrate resident status in one of the countries eligible within the European Union prior to the publication of this call. In addition, applicants must be enrolled in official degree programmes at universities within the European Union. Applications will also be accepted from individuals who have obtained their degree within the five years preceding the publication of this call and who are currently unemployed or hold a valid traineeship contract.

Applications, together with the required documentation, may be submitted until 15 May electronically by completing the form available at the following link: https://www.fundacionyuste.org/en/becas/

Any queries or requests for further information may be addressed to: campusyuste@fundacionyuste.org

The maximum period for issuing and notifying the decision of the procedure will be three months from the day following the deadline for submitting applications. If no decision has been communicated within this period, the application may be deemed to have been rejected. The outcome of the procedure will be notified individually to each applicant.

Campus Yuste is organised and sponsored by Yuste Foundation, with the collaboration of the Regional Government of Extremadura, the University of Extremadura, the Provincial Council of Cáceres, the Provincial Council of Badajoz, Mafresa, Patrimonio Nacional, and the European Routes of Emperor Charles V.

Campus Yuste

It is a training programme run by Yuste Foundation, designed as a space for meeting, debate and reflection among university students, researchers, academics and internationally renowned figures in a shared living environment.

The course topics focus on the challenges facing the European Union; relations between Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean; and the era of Emperor Charles V.

The courses are held at the Monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste, a site awarded the European Heritage Label by the European Commission in 2023 in recognition of its significance in Europe’s collective memory, as it was the final retreat of Emperor Charles V and a symbol of European unity and integration. It is currently a historic site managed by Patrimonio Nacional.

The acting president of the Regional Government of Extremadura, María Guardiola, has announced that the 19th edition of the Carlos V European Award, granted by Yuste Foundation, has been awarded to the European Committee of the Regions, an institution of the European Union which, for more than three decades, has structurally ensured the active participation of territories and citizens in the construction of the European project. (09/04/2026)

During her address, Guardiola underlined that this award “reflects a deep conviction: Europe is not built solely from central institutions. Europe is built across the entire territory, from every corner, from the regions, from municipalities and, ultimately, from its citizens”.

María Guardiola explained that the jury wished to recognise the more than three decades of work of the European Committee of the Regions, highlighting its key role in incorporating the voice of cities and regions into the European Union’s decision-making process.

In this regard, the acting president stressed that the European Committee of the Regions represents “like few other institutions, that close, tangible, real Europe, and for more than three decades it has carried out an essential task: bringing the voice of municipalities and regions to the heart of European decision-making, a task that is often discreet but absolutely indispensable”.

This recognition also carries strong symbolic value, as it links back to the origins of the award itself: in its first edition, in 1995, it was granted to Jacques Delors, promoter of the European Committee of the Regions and a key figure in contemporary Europe.

The jury, chaired by the acting 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 jury members, 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 award ceremony will take place on ^25th May at the Monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste, in the presence of His Majesty King Felipe VI, in a ceremony that will once again place Extremadura at the heart of Europeanism.

The president of the Committee of the Regions, Kata Tüttő, expressed her satisfaction with this recognition, which represents “the voice of cities and regions in the European decision-making and we bring our realities into the decision-making”. In her opinion, “when multiple storms are hitting our continent, it is more important than ever to keep the European Union strong from the inside”, she said in a video message.

European Committee of the Regions

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union institution which, for more than three decades, has structurally ensured the active participation of territories and citizens in the construction of the European project. Established by the Maastricht Treaty, the CoR was created with the aim of integrating the local and regional dimension into the Union’s decision-making process, thereby contributing to a more democratic, cohesive and citizen-focused Europe.

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

In an era characterised by acceleration, polarisation, and the temptation of simple responses to complex problems, the European Committee of the Regions has embodied a way of building Europe based on balance, listening, consensus, and cooperation across levels of government. It has demonstrated that territorial complexity does not weaken the Union, but rather makes it fairer, more realistic, and more resilient. This vision directly connects with the European political legacy symbolised by Charles V: the conviction that stability and cohesion are only possible when the multiple realities that shape the European space are respected.

The CoR has also been a school of practical Europeanism. Within it, representatives from highly diverse territories have learned to deliberate, to seek consensus, and to place the broader European interest above legitimate local particularities. This institutional pedagogy, exercised over decades, has contributed in a discreet yet profound way to the consolidation of a shared European political culture.

Carlos V European Award

Since 1995, the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation has awarded the Carlos V European Award with the aim of recognising the work of individuals, organisations, projects, or initiatives which, through their effort and dedication, have contributed to the general understanding and enhancement of Europe’s cultural, social, scientific, and historical values, as well as to the process of European construction and integration. During the award ceremony, the Monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste brings together both European and Ibero-American figures. The Carlos V European Award embodies the spirit of building a united, fair, equal, supportive, and free Europe. The formal award ceremony becomes an act of State, supported by His Majesty King Felipe VI, who holds the honorary presidency of Yuste Foundation.

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Yuste Foundation, together with the Economic and Social Council of Spain (CES), has organised the seminar “The European Union in the New Global Context: Improving Competitiveness by Advancing the Social Model”, which will take place today and tomorrow at the Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe, with the participation of around 80 CES members, a body composed of trade union organisations, the business sector, and experts appointed by the government. (09/04/2026)

During the opening session, the acting regional minister for Education, Science and Vocational Training, María Mercedes Vaquera, spoke and stressed the importance of “dialogue” in order to seek the “necessary consensus” to consolidate Europe’s core values, namely “democracy, the rule of law and freedom”.

The acting regional minister highlighted the “usefulness” of the CES in addressing the challenges facing Europe, noting that since its creation in 1958, it “has had the vocation of building bridges between decision-makers, something that is now more necessary than ever”. In this regard, Vaquera explained that in order to respond to the various circumstances, the Economic and Social Council must overcome challenges relating to “representativeness, effectiveness, visibility, and autonomy and technical capacity”.

In conclusion, Mercedes Vaquera also highlighted the work carried out by Yuste Foundation, as well as the role of Extremadura as a bridge with the Americas, “with whom we share an extraordinary human and historical connection”, and as a “meeting place”. In this regard, she referred to Guadalupe as a “nerve centre which, from the outset, has known how to build bridges between different disciplines and bring together advances in knowledge”, she stated.

The president of the Economic and Social Council of Spain, Antón Costas, explained that the aim of holding these seminars is to become “instruments of voice to convey the results of dialogue to society as a whole”. In this respect, he added that in recent years there has also been an effort to incorporate “listening to individuals who represent initiatives and actions of great importance, which we must be aware of in order to shape our views, which will later become the CES’s agreed reports and opinions to be conveyed to the government and society”.

In Costas’s view, the year 2020 marked the starting point of a new era with two distinguishing features compared to the previous one. “We have moved from the idea that globalisation is about supplying goods and services to consumer citizens at the lowest possible cost, to an awareness that citizens are not only consumers but also producers, that is, we have introduced the worker’s perspective, the industrial policy”.

For his part, the guardian and custodian of the Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe, friar Vidal Rodríguez, stated that, in his view, competitiveness is necessary, but only insofar as it entails “achieving higher levels of respect for and promotion of the individual and their rights”, and ensures bonds of collaboration and cooperation that “facilitate personal encounters, exchange, and social enrichment”, he said. The seminar will address topics such as defence in the European Union; competitiveness and innovation; and the social model.

Among the speakers are the president of CIDOB and former High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and vice-president of the European Commission, Josep Borrell; the director of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies, brigadier general Víctor Bados Nieto; the professor of Economics and Business Organisation at the University of Zaragoza, Silvia Vicente-Oliva; and the director of CES Spain and director of the seminar, Carmen Vidal.

Yuste Foundation

It is a public, non-profit entity of a cultural, scientific, research, and outreach nature, forming part of the public foundation sector of the Regional Government of Extremadura. Among its objectives is contributing to the promotion and consolidation of the links between Extremadura, Europe, and Ibero-America, based on the principles of loyalty, respect for each other’s identity, mutual benefit, and solidarity.

It also supports the promotion of democracy, respect for human rights, the fostering of peace and international harmony, as well as the development of all the peoples and nations of the world, through the promotion of culture, research, the dissemination of knowledge, and social integration.

Economic and Social Council of Spain

The CES is the Government’s highest consultative body in socio-economic and labour matters, created by Law 21/1991. It acts as a forum for dialogue between trade unions, business organisations, and other sectors in order to analyse and issue opinions on government policies, with functional autonomy and attached to the Ministry of Labour.

Its functions include issuing mandatory reports on draft legislation and draft royal decrees regulating socio-economic and labour matters; producing optional reports; and preparing annual reports on the economic, labour, and social situation in Spain.