Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia presented the Charles V European Award to Javier Solana, President of Madariaga - College of Europe Foundation, on 11 February 2011 at the Royal Monastery of Yuste. José Manuel Durao Barroso, President of the European Commission, co-chaired the ceremony with the Spanish Royal House.

The 2010 ‘Charles V European Award’ was awarded to Javier Solana for his high level of commitment to external relations and his efforts in favor of peace and democracy as High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union.

Granted by the European Academy of Yuste Foundation, the award is given to persons who have contributed to the general knowledge and enhancement of Europe’s cultural, social, scientific, and historical values, as well as to the process of European integration.

Mr Solana joins a prestigious list of award recipients such as Jacques Delors (1995), Wilfried Martens (1998), Felipe González (2000), Mijail Gorbachov (2002), Jorge Sampaio (2004), Helmut Kohl (2006) and Simone Veil (2008).

The foundation received some 33 proposals from institutions located in 11 EU countries (Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom and Spain). Leticia Ruiz-Capillas, EFC Chief Operating Officer, was part of the international jury, who selected this year's winner.

The European Academy of Yuste Foundation announced also next year’s European research and mobility grants, related to European history and integration studies and named after every edition’s award winner. The award is endowed with 180,000 euros, half of which is applied to the prize itself, and the other half to fund European research and mobility grants.  

For more information www.fundacionyuste.es