COMUNICACIÓN

The Award ceremony will take place on the 9th of May, on the occasion of Europe Day, at the Royal Monastery of Yuste.

The Director General of External Action of the Regional Government of Extremadura and President of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation’s Executive Committee, Rosa Balas, and the Director the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation, Juan Carlos Moreno Piñero, have announced the jury’s decision concerning the Carlos V European Award, on its 12th edition, which will be delivered to the President of the European Parliament, Mr. Antonio Tajani.

The Award will be delivered by His Majesty King Felipe VI during the ceremony that will take place on 9 May, on the occasion of Europe Day, in the church of the Royal Monastery of Yuste and this will be the third consecutive time that the Award is delivered on this symbolic date.

The Director General has similarly stated that this is the first edition held under the honorary presidency of His Majesty the King.

Balas pointed out that with this award the jury has wanted to give acknowledgement to “a political career that spans a period of almost 25 years dedicated to the European Union and to his firm defence of strong European institutions based on European values of democracy, liberty, equality, and respect for the rule of law”.

The President of the Executive Commission has, furthermore, highlighted the work that the award-winner “has been carrying out as far as the construction of Europe is concerned from different posts, whether in the Parliament or in the European Commission”.

Rosa Balas has stressed the work that Antonio Tajani has done to place citizens at the centre of all political action. The Director of External Action has recalled the words of Tajani in his speech when the Princess of Asturias Award for Concord was delivered to him in 2017: “The European Union is not a project for elites; quite the contrary. It was born and grew to ensure the well-being of all citizens”.

The firm belief and defence that Tajani makes of the European Union was depicted in that speech as he affirms that “the European Union means more than just banking or the euro. Above all it means the defence of our values: freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and safeguarding human rights, among others.”

The President of the Executive Committee recalled that this is the first edition that the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation announces after the merger between the European Academy of Yuste Foundation and the Extremaduran Centre for Studies and Cooperation with Ibero-America (CEXECI).
On his part, the Director of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation, Juan Carlos Moreno Piñero, highlighted “the consolidated and valued history” of the Award as its 12th edition will be celebrated this year, which “reasserts Extremadura’s commitment in favour of the European construction process and the values it promotes”, he claimed.

In this sense, he explained that the call for this 12th edition has received “41 proposals from 32 organizations from 9 countries of the European Union, where 41 is the final number of eligible proposals and 31 the number of nominees”.

He pointed out, moreover, that “121 letters of support from 30 countries in Europe and Latin America have been received”.

“The winner’s candidature [he concluded] was proposed by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and by the CEU San Pablo University”.

The Carlos V European Award is sponsored by the brand Alimentos Extremadura and by Canal Extremadura.

12TH CARLOS V EUROPEAN AWARD

The European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation established the Carlos V European Award in order to reward the work of people, organisations, projects or initiatives that have contributed to the enhancement of Europe’s cultural, social, scientific and historical values with their effort and commitment as well as to the process of European construction and integration.

The award is granted by the Board of Trustees of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation, on the basis of the proposals that made by a jury designated for such a purpose and composed of renowned figures from different socio-cultural fields of Europe as well as by members of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste and previous award-winners form previous editions.

The members of the jury are: Karl-Heinz Lambertz, President of the Committee of Regions of Europe; Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission and Carlos V European Award winner in 1995; Sofia Corradi -Mamma Erasmus-, former Scientific Director of the Rome Office of the Standing Conference of Rectors of the Italian Universities (CRUI) and Carlos V European Award winner in 2016; Marcelino Oreja Aguirre, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, former Secretary General of the Council of Europe, former European Commissioner and Carlos V European Award winner in 2017; Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis, the Ibero-American General Secretary and member of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste; Guillermo Fernández Vara, President of the Regional Government of Extremadura and President of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation; María del Carmen Iglesias Cano, member of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste; Ursula Lehr, member of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste; Manuela Mendoça, President of the Royal Academy of History of Portugal and member of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste; Segundo Píriz Durán, Rector of the University of Extremadura and Second Vice President of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation’s Board of Trustees; Blanca Martín Delgado, President of the Extremaduran Assembly, and Pilar Blanco-Morales, Vice President and Minister of Finance and Public Administration of the Regional Government of Extremadura.

ABOUT THE WINNER

Born in Rome on 4 August 1953, Antonio Tajani holds a degree in Law from the University La Sapienza, Rome. Before choosing to dedicate his life to politics he was an officer in the Italian Air Force.

Antonio Tajani was also a professional journalist for more than 20 years. He began working as host of news programmes on Rai Radio 1 before working for the newspaper “Il Giornale”.

Antonio Tajani was elected President of the European Parliament in January 2017, having based his candidacy on an agenda aimed at bringing people closer to the only directly elected European institution. He is driven by the strong belief that Europe’s strength should derive from the solutions it provides to the real daily concerns of European citizens and these should currently focus on three specific areas of action: security, migration and youth employment.

He insists on the belief that the European Union’s success is based on the promotion of the values of democracy and the rule of law; on those of equality, solidarity, human dignity and justice. He held his position as President of the European Parliament after having been elected First Vice President in 2014.

Antonio Tajani has carried out most of his political career at European level. He has been a member of the European Parliament since 1994; Vice President of the European Commission and European Commissioner for Transport between 2008 and 2010; Vice President of the European Commission and European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship between 2010 and 2014, and Vice President of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2016. He was, furthermore, a member of the Convention on the Future of Europe.

Among the honours he has received, the Grand Cross of the Bernardo O’Higgins’ Order (2015), the Order of the Legion of Honour (2012), and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit (2013) stand out.