Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis received on Wednesday, March 4, the European Prize Coudenhove-Kalergi 2020 during a ceremony held at the Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest.

Prince Nikolaus von Liechtenstein, president of the European Society Coudenhove-Kalergi, presented the award. Donald Tusk, president of the European People’s Party and former president of the European Council, also attended the event.

The members of the European Society Coudenhove-Kalergi have decided to give the European Prize Coudenhove-Kalergi 2020 to Klaus Iohannis for “his outstanding merits as a politician, who, through his dedication to European values, contributes decisively to the deeper integration of Romania into the community of European states,” taking into account, at the same time, that “his political action has an exemplary function for a formerly divided Europe,” the Romanian Presidency said in a press release.

The prestigious European Prize Coudenhove-Kalergi is awarded every two years to personalities who have significantly contributed to the project of a united and peaceful Europe. The award is conferred by the European Society Coudenhove-Kalergi, founded in 1978 in honour of “the great European visionary” Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi.

Former Romanian president Emil Constantinescu also received the European Prize Coudenhove-Kalergi in 1998.

The list of laureates includes both European and international leaders. Among them, Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission (2014); Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council (2012); Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany (2010); Vaira Vīķe - Freiberga, president of Latvia (2006); renowned violinist Yehudi Menuhin (1999); Ronald Reagan, president of the United States of America (1992); Helmut Kohl, chancellor of Germany (1990); and Juan Carlos I, King of Spain (1986). In 2018, the Prize was awarded posthumously to the Heavenly Hundred, the Ukrainian heroes of the Euromaidan.

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(Photo source: Presidency.ro)