Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is in Brussels for a General Affairs Council meeting, today opens an exhibition on "The International Charlemagne Prize of the City of Aachen" in the Council's Justus Lipsius building.
On display are portraits of the 48 people who have been awarded the prize from 1950 to 2006, including the founding fathers of Europe and personalities who have played a key part in promoting European unity such as Alcide de Gasperi (1952), Jean Monnet (1953) and Konrad Adenauer (1954), continuing through to present-day laureates like Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (2003), Patrick Cox/Pope John Paul II (2004), Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (2005) and Jean-Claude Juncker (2006).
In December 2006, the board of directors of the Charlemagne Prize Society decided that the 2007 International Charlemagne Prize would go to former Spanish foreign minister and ex-NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana Madariaga, now High Representative and Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union. Solana's great-uncle, Salvador de Madariaga, was also awarded the Charlemagne Prize in 1973. Traditionally, the award ceremony takes place in Aachen on Ascension Day. In 2007, this falls on 17 May.
The exhibition is one of the events in the Cultural Programme organized by the German EU Council Presidency.
The exhibition has been organized by the Foundation for the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen and the city of Aachen in cooperation with the German Foreign Office, the German Permanent Representation to the European Union and the Goethe-Institut, and has been co-sponsored by Deutsche Telekom.
Note for the media: This event is open to the media. If you are interested in attending, please contact the Council's Press Office.
