Mérida (EFE) Felipe VI on May 9 at the Monastery of Yuste (Cáceres).
The award jury has highlighted that the current UN Secretary General, in addition to being “a Europeanist man committed to multilateralism, to peace and justice”, has been “a key figure in facing a period of unprecedented changes and with terrible consequences for Europe and for the world”.
He also highlighted that “with his tenacious work he has promoted actions to respond to the covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine or the climate emergency and achieve ambitious reforms with which to face the challenges of the 21st century”.
The General Director of Foreign Action of the Junta de Extremadura and President of the Executive Commission of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation, Rosa Balas, and the director of this entity, Juan Carlos Moreno, announced this Tuesday in Mérida the ruling of this edition.
A life dedicated to the European project
With the award to António Guterres, according to Balas, they want to “value what Europe means” a year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“In these times of war, climatic, humanitarian, migratory challenges, dialogue and multilateralism seem to be tools that are more necessary and essential than ever”, highlighted the Director General of Foreign Affairs.
In this sense, he stressed that Guterres “has spent a lifetime dedicated, from his different responsibilities, to the European project and the values that it represents, solidarity, justice, the defense of the environment and also the enhancement of cooperation cross-border, of which Extremadura knows so much”.
The jury for the XVI Carlos V European Award, chaired by the head of the Government of Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández Vara, as president of the Board of Trustees of the Yuste Foundation, was made up, among others, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, by previous winners such as Jacques Delors or Sofía Corradi, by the director of the Royal Academy of History, Carmen Iglesias, and by the president of the Portuguese Academy of History, Manuela Mendoça.
Guterres, “deeply grateful”
Fernández Vara has already communicated the jury’s decision to Antonio Guterres, who has shown himself “deeply grateful” and has valued the “commendable work” carried out by the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation “in these times of unprecedented crisis for Europe, for the world”.
“Promoting democracy, human rights, peace and sustainable development for all through research, culture, and social integration, is one of the noblest and most important missions to which we can aspire”, Guterres said in his message read by Rosa Balas.
Juan Carlos Moreno, for his part, explained that 27 proposals have been submitted to this sixteenth edition, of which only 25 were eligible, with one of 15 applications coming from Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and Sweden. .
The Carlos V Award, granted by the Foundation, has recognized personalities such as Felipe González, Angela Merkel and Mikhail Gorbachev in previous years.
