The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers yesterday approved two Royal Decrees awarding the Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit to Antoni Esteve, former president of the Princess of Girona Foundation and Farmaindustria, and to ophthalmologist Luis Fernández-Vega, former president of the Princess of Asturias Foundation.
Antoni Esteve i Cruella, PhD in Pharmacy from the University of Barcelona, was director of the Esteve Group between 2005 and 2012, president of Farmaindustria in two periods (between 2006 and 2008 and between 2014 and 2018) and president of the Princess of Girona Foundation from 2009 to 2015. He is also a member of the Royal Academies of Pharmacy and Medicine of Catalonia and the Royal Academy of Doctors of Spain.
For his part, Luis Fernández-Vega Sanz was president of the Spanish Society of Ophthalmology from 2011 to 2015, president of the National Commission of Ophthalmology since 2013, member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Asturias and president of the Princess of Asturias Foundation from April 2018 to December 2022.
The Order of Civil Merit, under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was instituted by King Alfonso XIII in 1926 to reward “the civic virtues of civil servants in the service of the State, as well as the extraordinary services of Spanish and foreign citizens for the good of the Nation”. This decoration may also be granted to persons of foreign nationality, provided that they have rendered distinguished services to Spain or a notable collaboration in all those matters that redound to the benefit of the nation. The King is the Grand Master of the Order of Civil Merit and the Minister of Foreign Affairs is the Grand Chancellor.
