EV50 – The Europeans of the Year 2007

Voting for the Europeans of the Year showed concern for human rights, climate change - and cheaper telephone calls. Simon Taylor reports from an awards ceremony that touched on the EU’s difficult relations with its neighbours.

This year’s EV50 awards ceremony honouring the ten men and women responsible for some of the European Union’s biggest achievements in the past year was held in the sumptuous Palais d’Egmont, the historic home of the Belgian foreign ministry. The setting was appropriate since this year so many of the awards reflected the EU’s growing importance in international affairs and the Union’s role in addressing external challenges like spreading freedom and democracy beyond its borders and fighting against climate change.

For the first time, the prestigious European of the Year award was won by a head of state from one of the countries that joined the Union in 2004, Lithuania’s Valdas Adamkus. In his acceptance speech, Adamkus stressed how Europe had represented a "dream of peace and freedom" for his country during 50 years of Soviet oppression. Adamkus sent a strong warning to other EU leaders that Europe could not afford to turn its back on its neighbours where European values of freedom of speech were being denied citizens. "There are people being beaten up and arrested in EU neighbouring countries," he said, mentioning Ukraine and Georgia as countries which were still not free and democratic societies.

The struggle for core standards of human rights and democracy was evidently also prominent in European Voice readers’ minds when they voted for ‘Non-EU citizen of the Year’. The award went to Garry Kasparov, leader of the United Civil Front opposition movement and former Russian chess grand master. Kasparov could not be there in person as he was arrested last Saturday (24 November) for taking part in a demonstration against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party and is still in jail. Event host Peter Sutherland read out a letter from Kasparov’s wife, Daria. "It gives great comfort and strength to him to know that there is a keen awareness of issues," she said in the letter.

The award for ‘Diplomat of the Year’ illustrated the EU’s leverage in international affairs. Readers voted to give the award to External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier for their role in freeing the six medics held under the threat of the death penalty in Libya. The two could not be there in person to accept the award as they were in Annapolis for the Middle East peace talks.

But Ferrero-Waldner sent a video message from the US and apologised for not being there. "I’m always on the move depending on where the agenda takes me," she said. The commissioner said that freeing the medical workers had been "one of the worthiest investments of my life", having taken two and half years of work. She also said that the liberation of the six and the assistance for the children infected with HIV was a "European success" and praised Steinmeier as a "brilliant and thoroughly professional diplomat". She also thanked the UK and Italy for their contribution to the final result.

The ‘Diplomat of the Year’ award was accepted by Ferrero-Waldner’s husband Francisco Ferrero Campos and chef de cabinet Patrick Child while Edmund Duckwitz, Germany’s permanent representative to the EU, received the award on behalf of Steinmeier.

Alongside diplomatic challenges, European Voice readers also highlighted the importance of climate change in their votes. The award for ‘Campaigner of the Year’ went to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, for his commitment to international efforts to combat climate change.

The former body-builder and Hollywood actor could not be there in person but C. Boyden Gray, the US ambassador to the EU, received the award on his behalf. Gray, a very tall and slender man, joked that he was there "because of my resemblance in height, accent and physique" to Schwarzenegger.

The ambassador read out an acceptance letter from Schwarzenegger which said that despite coming from "different nations and cultures" there was a common will to tackle climate change. Asked whether he was surprised that Europeans had voted for Schwarzenegger, Gray said: "There’s a saying in the US that environmental policy starts in Sacramento [California state capital], three or four years later it reaches D.C. and three years after that it reaches Brussels."

A commitment to tackling greenhouse gas emissions won Virgin chairman Richard Branson an award for ‘Business leader of the year’ for reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from his fleet of planes and creating Virgin Fuels to develop renewable energy sources. Branson was not there either to accept the award because, as Peter Sutherland pointed out, he was currently having a board meeting on a Caribbean island. Referring to Schwarzenegger and Branson, European Voice editor Dana Spinant said that she was not surprised that "people who got an award for reducing CO2 emissions did not jump into a CO2 emitting plane" to attend the event.

Flights of a very different nature were behind the award for MEP of the year. Readers chose Italian Socialist MEP Claudio Fava for his report trying to bring to light illegal abductions and the transfer of terrorist suspects and interrogation and torture in secret prisons. In his acceptance speech, Fava said that the award was not just for him but was "for all MEPs and colleagues who wanted to find out the truth about what happened after 9/11" and who wanted "to secure the right balance between freedom and security". The MEP’s report was highly controversial as several members of the temporary committee of inquiry contested his conclusions.

One of the nominees Fava beat for MEP of the year was Austrian centre-right member Paul Rübig for his work in getting a deal to cut mobile phone roaming charges. But it was Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding who got the recognition for the deal, winning ‘Commissioner of the Year’ against competition from Neelie Kroes, Meglena Kuneva, Stavros Dimas and Joaquín Almunia.

Receiving the award, Reding said that the deal on roaming was an example of Commission President José Manuel Barroso’s aim for the Commission to deliver "deeds not speeches" to benefit citizens. Reding praised the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers for working together to reach agreement in nine months to cut roaming charges by 70%. "That’s consumer policy at its best," she said. She singled out German Economics Minister Michael Glos for his efforts during Germany’s presidency. "Glos showed that German efficiency is not just a slogan," she said.

Germany’s contribution to the success of EU was reflected in German Chancellor Angela Merkel winning ‘Stateswoman of the Year’ for the second year running. Merkel was defending budget plans before the German parliament and so could not attend but her award was accepted by Uwe Corsepius who was Merkel’s sherpa, her top aide, working to draw up the draft reform treaty.

Corsepius, who was himself nominated for ‘Diplomat of the Year’, said that Merkel considered the award "a mark of appreciation" for the German presidency of the Council. "We have jointly set Europe in motion again," he said. Referring to current high approval ratings for the EU in opinion polls, he said: "When the EU delivers tangible results it’s accepted by citizens."

The final awards were given for two very different people standing up for what was right in difficult circumstances. Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, won ‘Achiever of the Year’ award for defending the independence of the bank against attempted interference by politicians. As host Peter Sutherland put it: "We are too diplomatic to say from which country," although it was clear the reference was to French President Nicolas Sarkozy. In a video message from Frankfurt, Trichet said he was "moved" by the award and said that the euro had been a "clear success" in maintaining price stability and helping create 15 million new jobs in eight-and-a-half years, "more than on the other side of the Atlantic".

At the other end of the scale of EU public life, the prize for ‘Journalist of the Year’ was awarded to Bulgarian Reneta Nikolova, a television reporter and chair of the association Journalists against Corruption. Accepting the prize in person, Nikolova thanked voters for recognising her work and that of her colleagues. "We are a small NGO. That our efforts have been pointed out gives moral support to our members," she said.

European of the Year - Valdas Adamkus

Valdas Adamkus may be the president of a small country but he has made a major contribution to European politics. After having worked previously to bring about an amicable settlement to Ukraine’s ‘Orange Revolution’, most recently the Lithuanian president helped convince Poland’s leaders to sign up to the reform treaty, during tense negotiations in June.

For this achievement Adamkus was awarded this year’s EV50 European of the Year award, so becoming the first head of one of the EU’s new member states to win the overall category.

As the president of a country which for 50 years looked towards the European project as a symbol of hope for peace and progress, he urged EU leaders to keep that hope alive.

During his acceptance speech, he pointed to Ukraine and Georgia as two countries still in the midst of a struggle for democracy. "We all know there are people beaten up and arrested in our EU neighbouring countries," he said.

The 81-year-old’s own life-story reads like a similar struggle. He joined the underground movement against the Soviet Union as a young man and fled to Germany with his family during the Second World War. In 1949 he emigrated to the US working initially in a car factory and eventually in the United States Environmental Protection Agency where he was awarded the US government’s highest award for civil servants.

But Lithuania was never far from his mind. During the deportation of Lithuanians to Siberia in the 1950s, he organised 40,000 signatures to petition the US to intervene. He visited the country for the first time in 30 years in 1972 and was a more frequent visitor during the perestroika years. He moved back to Lithuania following his retirement in 1997, winning the presidency the following year.

Last night he spoke of the hope that became a reality for Lithuania when it joined the EU in 2004. "It is the duty of Europe’s leaders to keep that hope alive so the vision of the EU’s founding fathers finally comes true," he said.

Adamkus said that through the reform treaty, which will be formally signed by EU leaders next month, the Union’s "democracy, openness and solidarity" was reaffirmed.

• European of the Year

Valdas Adamkus

• Stateswoman of the Year

Angela Merkel

• Commissioner of the Year

Viviane Reding

• MEP of the Year

Claudio Fava

• Diplomat of the Year

Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Frank-Walter Steinmeier

• Campaigner of the Year

Arnold Schwarzenegger

• Business Leader of the Year

Richard Branson

• Journalist of the Year

Reneta Nikolova

• Achiever of the Year

Jean-Claude Trichet

• Non-EU Citizen of the Year

Garry Kasparov

Voting for the Europeans of the Year showed concern for human rights, climate change - and cheaper telephone calls. Simon Taylor reports from an awards ceremony that touched on the EU’s difficult relations with its neighbours.