The Diplomat
Yesterday, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the King presided over the closing ceremony of the XXVIII World Law Congress of the World Jurist Association, in which he presented the World Peace & Liberty Award to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and defended the pillars of the European model at a time when “we witness a clash between two visions of the World: one of force and repression, of intolerance and exclusion. And another, the European one, based on the values held in article 2 of the EU Treaty, such as democracy, human dignity, freedom, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights”.
Don Felipe, who traveled to New York accompanied by the Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, Luis Manuel Cuesta Civis, attended the closing ceremony of the XXVIII World Law Congress 2023, in which world leaders -including Heads of State and Government, such as the President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, or the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau-, magistrates, political leaders, academics, lawyers, activists and students discussed a wide variety of current issues to which the legal community must propose solutions.
The King was accompanied at the ceremony by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Gutierres, with whom he shared lunch the day before; New York Mayor Eric Adams; United States Supreme Court Senior Justice Anthony Kennedy; the president of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Dominican Republic, Henry Molina; the World Liberty & Peace Award 2023, Andrew Young; and the president of the World Jurist Association, Javier Cremades, among other American and judicial personalities.
During the closing ceremony, the King presented the World Peace & Liberty Award to the European Commission, “for his commitment to promoting Peace through Law and the Rule of Law”, in the person of Ursula Von der Leyen. This prize, qualified as the Nobel Law, is the highest recognition granted by the World Jurist Association. It has previously been delivered to Sir Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, René Cassin, King Felipe VI himself, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Colombian society, received by its then president Iván Duque.
After the delivery, the Monarch delivered a few words in English in which he highlighted the work of the European Commission as guarantor of the “fundamental democratic values” of the EU, a function that has become “more important than ever before”. “It has been roughly one year and a half since the Russian aggression against Ukraine started. Since then, we have witnessed the return of war to the continent, with the massive loss of human lives, millions of refugees pouring out into safety, and a level of destruction that brings to memory what most of us only knew from history books, documentaries or movies”, he recalled.
“We have seen how the pillars on which we have built our European model for decades have been seriously challenged,” he warned. “Today we witness a clash between two visions of the World: one of force and repression, of intolerance and exclusion. And another, the European one, based on the values held in article 2 of the EU Treaty, such as democracy, human dignity, freedom, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights”, he continued.
These values “are the foundation of European construction, that are part of the identity of the Union as a political community” and, therefore, “now more than ever, we need the EU to be a force for good in the world, defending liberty, sovereignty and territorial integrity of states; also defending a rules-based order in line with the UN Charter”, he stated. “You know you can always count on Spain in working towards this objective”, assured the King, addressing Von der Leyen.
