Simone Veil Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation 2005

At its meeting in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2005 Prince of Asturias Award for International Co-operation, made up of María Jesús Álvarez González, Enrique Barón, Emilio Cassinello, Alicia Castro, Masaveu, Manuel Díaz Ron, Severino García Vigón, Antonio Garrigues Walker, Laura González, Álex Grijelmo, Luis Lada Díaz, Ricardo Martí Fluxá, José María Martín Patino, Marcelino Oreja Aguirre, Yago Pico de Coaña, Francisco Pinto Balsemăo, Luis Ruiz de Gopegui Miguel, Alfonso de Salas, Luis Sánchez-Merlo, Nicolás Sartorius, Gustavo Suárez Pertierra, chaired by Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo and with Teodoro López-Cuesta Egocheaga as secretary, has decided to bestow the 2005 Prince of Asturias Award for International Co-operation on Simone Veil.

French-born Simone Veil is one of the European Union´s figureheads, and one of the people who has fought most tenaciously for its progress. She was deported to Auschwitz during the Second World War, where she lost several members of her family.

As President of the first European Parliament elected by universal suffrage and President of the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah (the Holocaust), Simone Veil has consistently stood out for her defence of freedom, personal dignity, human rights, justice, fraternity, and the role of women in modern society.

Simone Veil embodies the ideals and successes of a united Europe and the extension of European values elsewhere in the world.

In bestowing the Award upon Simon Veil, the Jury wishes to highlight her coherence, strength and steadfastness in defence of values and objectives at a time when certain doubts and reticence about the future of Europe and its identity are beginning to emerge.

Oviedo, 25th May 2005