EP President Martin Schulz receives the Charlemagne prize 2015

USPA NEWS - EP President Martin Schulz was awarded the 57th International Charlemagne Prize at a ceremony on Thursday 14 May in Aachen. The prize goes to Schulz for his work to promote democracy, not least by making the European Parliament more visible, audible and understandable.

The Prize board underlines in an explanatory statement that President Schulz made it clear from the very beginning of his mandate that as President he would "fight for the respect of the parliament by the executives, if and when the rights of the citizens were endangered," and would challenge anyone who thought that "more Europe could be achieved with less parliamentarianism." The board also cites Mr Schulz´s role in promoting the 'Spitzenkandidaten' process in the run-up to the 2014 European elections.

Joachim Gauck, President of the Federal Republic of Germany; François Hollande, President of the French Republic, and Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein, King of Jordan, they delivered the Laudatio for President Schulz. Among more than 800 invited guests, the event was attended by Zoran Milanović, Minister President of Croatia; Sauli Niinistö, President of Finland; Werner Faymann, Chancellor of Austria; Laimdota Straujuma, Prime Minister of Latvia; Dalia GrybauskaitÄ—, President of Lithuania and Charlemagne Prize laureate; Petro Poroshenko, President of Ukraine; King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain.

Also they attended Donald Tusk, President of the European Council; Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission; Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank; Jeroen Dijsselbloem, President of the Eurogroup; Sigmar Gabriel, Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy and Vice-Chancellor of Germany; Jean-Claude Trichet, former President of the European Central Bank; Javier Solana, former High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Charlemagne Prize laureate, and Queen Rania of Jordan.