The Ambassador and the Minister listen to the words of gratitude pronounced by Lesmes./ Photo: Embassy
The Diplomat. 14/07/2018
France’s Ambassador, Yves Saint-Geours, granted the insignias of Officer of the Legion of Honour to the president of the Supreme Court and the General Council of the Judiciary (GCJ), Carlos Lesmes Serrano.
The ceremony took place on July 4 at the Residence of France’s Ambassador in Madrid in the presence of, among others, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and many representatives of the Spanish Justice, according to information provided by the Embassy.
During the event, the ambassador declared that the trajectory of Carlos Lesmes “shows that France has not made a mistake by choosing this firm man, full of values and motivated by an unbreakable commitment to join the category of the most prestigious decorated personalities”.
The ambassador remembered, among other things, Lesmes commitment to “the bigger challenges faced lately by democracy in Europe” and his work in defense of the protection of personal data, the right of asylum as international system of protection facing gender violence, political refugees or the statute of immigrants.
[hr style=»single»]
The ambassador emphasized commitment of Carlos Lesmes to creation of justice at a European level
[hr style=»single»]
Carlos Lesmes, he continued, has always defended, equally, both “the sovereign institutions of his country” and “the idea of a European justice”. “You are a convinced European as your commitment to the European Network of magistrates of the Judicial Council proves. You defend the European Public Prosecutor’s Office because you consider that the public action, which is a responsibility of the States, has to be collective facing the big world challenges”, he continued. “You became aware of the fact that the judicial world limited to the national borders will not last for long, and that we had to build a European justice”, he pointed out.
“Therefore, this decoration is a reward for his love for France, which he will spread not only in Spain, for which we all feel special affection, but also abroad, within the framework of international organizations in which you participate”, Saint-Geours concluded.
