The European Commission has announced the list of winners of the 2019 Altiero Spinelli Prize. The Krzyżowa Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe is one of the 16 winners from all over Europe, thereby the first Polish organization in the history of this competition to receive such a distinction.
The Altiero Spinelli Prize has been awarded since 2017 and is a recognition of outstanding activities that promote understanding of the European Union as an integration project and its values. It focuses in particular on initiatives that help young citizens to engage in the democratic processes shaping the future of the EU. In the last edition of the Altiero Spinelli Prize, the activities undertaken in 2019 were assessed, and the work of the International Youth Meeting Center in Krzyżowa was recognized as outstanding in Europe.
Expert jurors paid particular attention to the very ambitious nature of the IYMC projects, the basis of which are meetings of young people from Poland, Germany and often also from other countries. Young people participating in these projects receive a unique chance to learn in an informal atmosphere to discuss, understand people with different views, experiences and expectations, as well as express their opinions and confront them with the opinions of peers in order to build consensus around different views. In this way, young people can better understand their own role in contemporary Europe.
During 30 years of operation, the International Youth Meeting Center in Krzyżowa has cooperated with over 250 schools and institutions, mainly from Poland and Germany, implementing projects with the participation of young people from various backgrounds, with different material status and experiences, also addressed to people with disabilities and disadvantaged groups. Many of them, participating in the projects of the Krzyżowa Foundation, had a chance to meet their peers from other countries for the first time and could overcome barriers created by tragic events in the past. Joint talks about the history and future of Europe, as well as everyday life as seen through the eyes of teenagers, contributed to strengthening the European dialogue by continuing it through the young generation.
Altiero Spinelli (1907–1986) was an Italian politician and political scientist considered to be one of the founding fathers of the European Union. He is the co-author of the Ventotene Manifesto, played a significant role in the federalist movement, had a strong influence on European integration in the first decades and in the 1980s. The main building of the European Parliament in Brussels is named after him.
The awards ceremony of 2019 Altiero Spinelli Prize will take place in January and will take the form of an online event due to the prevailing pandemic. The list of all winners is available on the website of the competition organizer.
