The Diplomat
King Felipe VI and the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, closed the 29th edition of the World Law Congress on Tuesday, held in Santo Domingo. Abinader defended the validity of the transatlantic bond, “now that it is so much under question.”
The World Law Congress is an event organized by the World Law Foundation that brings together conferences from different organizations. World Law Congresses bring together more than 2,000 world leaders (heads of state, presidents of supreme courts, magistrates, judges, academics, notaries, registrars, lawyers, law students, and jurists in general) to discuss current issues related to the legal world. At the event, the World Peace & Liberty Award was presented to Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
During his speech, the King affirmed that the rule of law “protects and empowers the individual, guarantees respect for their dignity and their aspiration for democratic coexistence” and warned that, “in the face of promises of efficiency or simple solutions to complex problems,” no model of political organization “can be more solid than one where equality before the law prevails; where individual rights are respected, where every voice, however different or even weak it may seem, is heard and respected.”
He also highlighted the “intellectual depth and understanding of the legal and social problems of our time” of Sonia Sotomayor, “one of the most listened to and respected jurists in a country like the United States; a country I know quite well and which I deeply love and admire, a country that has known, throughout its history, how to bring to fruition so many ideas born in Europe and sow so many others that have also borne fruit on the European continent and beyond.”
“Now that there is so much discussion about the transatlantic bond, sometimes calling into question its validity or future, I believe it is worth remembering that this bond is not just a relationship between governments and public administrations, but is based on a permanent, ever-present, mutually enriching dialogue between companies, foundations, universities, representatives of civil society, and individuals who hold leadership positions on both shores,” the King continued. “We all engage in transatlantic dialogue, in all sectors, and it is part of our identity, in Europe and in America,” he added.
