“This award is dedicated to Ukrainians who are fighting on the field. To those who were forced to leave. To those who lost relatives and friends” said the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola
“No one deserves this award more.” The European Parliament awarded today the Zakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to “courageous Ukrainian people” facing the Russian invasion.
“This award is dedicated to Ukrainians who are fighting on the field. To those who were forced to leave. To those who have lost relatives and friends. To all those who resist and fight for their beliefs” said the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, announcing the decision.
The Ukrainian people honored with this award are represented “by President Volodymyr Zelensky, his elected officials and civil society,” he added.
“I know that the courageous Ukrainian people will not give in, and neither will we,” Metsola continued, stressing that Ukrainians are risking their lives “to preserve the values we all believe in: freedom, democracy, the rule of law.” .
The first head of a European institution to visit Ukraine after the outbreak of war, Roberta Metzola estimated that “no one deserved this award more”.
He himself Zelensky he welcomed the decision and the people of his country who are fighting “for freedom and democracy”. “Ukrainians demonstrate their commitment to the values of freedom and democracy every day, on the battlefield against the terrorist Russian state,” he tweeted, commenting that EU support is “very important for Ukraine.”
As the award is named after Soviet dissident Andrei Zakharov, it is considered a highly symbolic move to award it to Ukraine at this critical time, said Portuguese MEP and vice-president of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), Pedro Marques.
“Who else but the Ukrainian people has given so much to democratic values in our modern era?” asked the Frenchman Stéphane Cezournet, the president of the political group Renew Europe (centrists and liberals).
Also nominated for the award this year were WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Colombia’s Truth Commission, which is investigating human rights abuses during the civil war with the FARC rebels.
The Zakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought accompanied by a cash prize of 50,000 euros.
On many occasions in recent years, it has been a harbinger of Nobel Peace Prizes, as in the case of Nelson Mandela, Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, Congolese gynecologist Denise Mukwege and Yazidi activist Nadia Mourad.
The 2022 Zakharov Prize will be officially awarded on December 14, at a ceremony hosted in the semi-circle of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
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