King Felipe VI will preside over the presentation of the award to Joseph Borrell for his contribution to European integration.
The monastery of Yuste dresses up this Friday for the presentation of the Charles V award to Josep Borrell. Shortly after nine in the morning, there is activity on the esplanade leading to the monastery, which will host a ceremony presided over by the King Felipe VI.
At quarter past nine, the children from local schools were already there, cheering up the wait, enterntained by the comings and goings of buses carrying the authorities, the official cars and the movements of all the security personnel involved in an event of this knid, especially given the presence of His Majesty.
Also among the first to show up at the monastery was the protagonist, chosen this year to receive the award given by the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation. Borrel arrived accompanied by his wife, Cristina Narbona.
Starting at ten in the morning, the authorities began to arrive, among them several senior officials from the Regional Government of Extremadura, such as the councillors Victoria Bazaga, Mercedes Vaquera, Elena Manzano or Sara García Espadas, alongside councillor Ignacio Higuero, popular spokesman José Ángel Sánchez Juliá or the Mayor of Plasencia, Fernando Pizarro.
The list of attendees at the event includes María Guardiola, president of the Regional Government of Extremadura; Teresa Ribera, executive Vice-President for a Clean, Fair and Competitive Transition of the European Commission; the minister for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service, Óscar López; and the president of the General Council of the Judiciary and of the Supreme Court, Isabel Perelló Doménech.
In Cuacos de Yuste will also be present the former Prime Ministers Mariano Rajoy and Felipe González, the latter also awarded with the European Award Charles V in 2000, in addition to Javier Solana and Marcelino Oreja, who received this recognition in 2011 and 2017, respectively. Borrel will be the fourth Spaniard to receive it. The Foundation has chosen him because of «his career, his defense of peace, democracy and European values, and his contribution to European integration and the promotion of the European Union’s external action, which has strengthened the Union’s role and leadership in the world at particularly delicated moments«.
For the members of the jury, Borrel has reacted in a firm and confident manner to the war that began in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; they have also recognised his commitment to multilateralism in the face of the great global challenges, which has allowed to promote the development of key strategic alliances that strengthen the EU’s relations with Latin America and the Caribbean.
