The Diplomat
The European Parliament has awarded this year’s European Citizen’s Prize to two Spanish projects, Changing Minds, for cultural exchange between young people with fewer opportunities from developed countries and young refugees living in Spain, and Trésdesis, a 3D digital printing project for prosthetic arms given free of charge to those who cannot afford them.
Changing Minds is a cultural exchange project that seeks to bring together young people with fewer opportunities from economically developed countries with young refugees living in Spain and from different countries. For nine days, the young people live together, exchanging knowledge, points of view and bringing cultures closer together, which reduces the differences between them, facilitates the inclusion of refugees and improves the view of immigration in wealthier countries. The jury highlighted the project’s “focus on vulnerable youth and helping young people in their first steps”.
On the other hand, Trésdesis are the 3D printed solidarity prostheses by the Spanish NGO Ayúdame3D that are manufactured and delivered free of charge to people with amputation or agenesis in their upper limbs anywhere in the world. Its aim is to help reduce the inequality faced by these people and improve their quality of life, regardless of their context, thus contributing to safeguarding the rights of people with disabilities. The jury highlighted the project’s “extraordinary work in its quest for equality among citizens”.
The European Citizen’s Prize is an award given “to exceptional individuals or organizations that fight for European values, promote integration between citizens and Member States or facilitate transnational cooperation within the Union, and to those who daily seek to promote the values of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU”. Any citizen, association or MEP can submit a nomination for the European Citizens’ Prize of the European Parliament.
In 2023, a total of 38 projects from the 27 Member States have been awarded. The Spanish jury was composed of Spanish MEPs Antonio López-Istúriz (EPP), Lina Gálvez (S&D) and Eva María Poptcheva (Renew Europe), Junior Female Leaders representative Alejandra Fernández and Ana María Díaz, president of the Spanish Health Network for Social Responsibility and Sustainability. The Parliament has been awarding this prize since 2008.
