The Diplomat
The Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for the protection of the European way of life, the Greek Margaritis Schinás, received yesterday in Madrid the XVII Otto of Habsburg Award, corresponding to the year 2020, in recognition of his commitment to the defense of European values.
The award ceremony with laudatio (delivered by the former Minister of Education and former government spokesman Íñigo Méndez de Vigo) took place yesterday at the Real Gran Peña de Madrid, in the presence of the members of the Board of Directors of the Spanish Committee for the Pan-European Union. Among the guests at the event were the Greek ambassador in Madrid, Ioannis Tzovas-Mourouzis; the director of the Commission in Spain, María Ángeles Benítez Salas, and several Spanish diplomats.
The awarding of the prize was approved on December 3, 2020 by the jury of the Otto Habsburg Award, but the health situation generated by the COVID-19 pandemic made it necessary to postpone the awarding of the prize until yesterday’s date. The jury, chaired by Florentino Portero Rodríguez, made up of members of the Board of Directors of the Spanish Committee for the Pan-European Union and with Carlos Uriarte Sánchez as secretary, approved the award unanimously after several months of deliberation.
With the awarding of the prize, PanEuropa Spain wanted to highlight “the commitment to democracy, freedom and Christian humanism of a convinced Europeanist, recognizing his career of service to the construction of a United Europe and the protection of the European way of life”. According to the jury, “in very difficult circumstances, in which the European Union is forced to take serious decisions to meet a series of major challenges, Schinás’ example is both commendable and encouraging”.
The Otto von Habsburg Prize has been awarded since 2004 and to date has been given to personalities committed to the process of European integration and with strong ties to Spain, such as Marcelino Oreja Aguirre, Herman Tertsch, Rosario Silva Lapuerta, Fernando Álvarez de Miranda, José María Gil-Robles, Simeon of Bulgaria, Lord Garel-Jones, Gerardo Fernández Albor, Raimundo Bassols Jaca, Emilio Lamo de Espinosa, Francisco Pinto Balsemao, Darío Valcárcel, Nick Clegg, Iñigo Méndez de Vigo and Eugenio Nasarre.
