The Diplomat
The former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abel Matutes, received the 19th Otto of Habsburg Award on Tuesday, in a ceremony in which José María Aznar, the former Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004, delivered the laudatio.
Aznar highlighted the constants that distinguished his European career: “the tenacious cohesion of the European Union, the strengthening of its ties with America through the Ibero-American summits, his concern for stability in the Mediterranean and his support for the enlargement of NATO”.
This year, the Spanish Committee for the Pan-European Union has singled out Abel Matutes for his work in the European Commission and for his important work in the regional integration of Spain in Europe.
The award for 2022 was adopted on 25 October at a meeting of the Paneuropa Board of Directors, chaired by Florentino Portero and with Carlos Uriarte as Secretary General, after assessing the role played by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Commissioner for the regional integration of Spain in the European Union, as well as his work on the draft European Constitution.
The Board stressed that “his fundamental work in the European Commission for the achievement of Monetary Union, in addition to the work carried out in the field of European foreign policy for the fraternity and friendship of Europe with Latin America and the countries of the southern region have laid a fundamental foundation for the Union’s current relations with these areas”.
Abel Matutes Juan, Spanish politician, businessman and banker, has been Senator of the Kingdom of Spain (1977-1982), Member of the Spanish Parliament (1982-1986), Member of the European Commission (1986-1994) under the presidency of Jacques Delors, Member of the European Parliament (1994-1996), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1996-2000), currently Chairman and owner of Palladium Hotel Group and of the Matutes Group of companies.
Matutes thus joins the list of personalities who have received the Otto von Habsburg Award, which includes, among others: the former Minister of Education, Iñigo Méndez de Vigo; the Vice-President of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinás; the Jean Monnet Professor ‘ad personam’, Teresa Freixes; the former President of the European Parliament, José María Gil Robles.
