11/03/09 José Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the Commission of the European Communities, receives the Gold Medal and Insignia of the Real Instituto de Estudios Europeos

The award ceremony took place in Brussels on Wednesday 11 March at 7 pm, at the Permanent Representation of Spain to the European Union.

The guests at the ceremony included the members of the 21st class of the Master's Programme in European Communities and European Union.

The small number of figures who have received this distinction include His Majesty King Juan Carlos I, the former Prime Ministers of Spain Felipe González and José María Aznar, the Secretary-General of the United Nations (1992-1996) Boutros Ghali, and the EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union, Javier Solana, among others.

The Real Instituto de Estudios Europeos was founded in Zaragoza in 1986, the year Spain joined the European Communities, and its Honorary President is His Majesty King Juan Carlos I.

Its main activity is the Master's Programme in European Communities and European Union, now in its 22nd edition. Over these years it has trained 494 people from 36 countries on five continents in Zaragoza, with intensive sessions in Brussels, Luxembourg, Strasbourg and Madrid.

Source: Ecodiario (in Spanish)
More information: European Commission - Press corner