Eduardo González
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, was awarded this Tuesday with the National Order of the Star of Romania in the rank of Grand Officer, the highest distinction in this country, for his contribution to the development of Spanish-Romanian relations.
The National Order of the Star of Romania in the rank of Grand Officer was awarded to him by the president of the country, Klaus Iohannis, and the decoration was awarded to him by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luminita Odobescu, in Brussels, on the sidelines of the NATO ministerial meeting, according to the Romanian Embassy in Madrid.
The National Order of the Star of Romania was originally created in 1877, the same year of the country’s independence, by the man who would soon be proclaimed King Carol I. It was renamed the “Medal of the Hero of Socialist Labour” in 1947 and regained its original name and insignia in 1989.
It is the highest decoration of the Republic of Romania and is awarded in recognition of “exceptional services to the Romanian State or people, special acts in times of peace or war and contribution to the development of Romania’s friendly relations with other countries.” It was awarded in the grade of Grand Cross to King Juan Carlos I in 2003 and to the then Prince of Asturias, Felipe de Borbón, in 2007.
During the ceremony, Albares said a few words in which he stated that this decoration “bears witness to the friendship between our governments and the fraternal relations between our peoples.” He also thanked the Government and the people of Romania for “the expressions of solidarity towards the victims and the recent floods in the Valencia region” and conveyed his “condolences to the relatives of the nine Romanian citizens who died as a result of the floods.”
“More than 600,000 Romanians live in Spain. They are fully integrated into our social and economic life. They share our hopes and dreams and now they share our tears as we share theirs,” he continued. “The Romanian community in Spain represents the strongest link between our two nations, and this award bears witness to this and to the common cultural roots of our two nations,” he added.
“Romania and Spain also share the same democratic and humanist values that are the basis of European identity. We share the ideals of freedom, national sovereignty and peace, now threatened by Russian aggression against Ukraine and by other types of threats,” said Albares. “Spain is firmly committed to the security of NATO’s eastern flank and our aircraft and troops guarantee the security of the airspace in the Black Sea region and the strength and effectiveness of NATO’s advanced ground presence on Romanian territory,” he said.
