30/05/2025 Prizes
The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) will mark the 70th anniversary of the Europe Prize with a conference and a special ceremony organised with the municipality of Donostia/San Sebastián (Spain) on Friday 6 June 2025.
In the morning, members of the PACE Sub-Committee on the Europe Prize will participate in a conference on “Democracy on trial: how cities carry hope for European values” (at Miramar Palace), with opening speeches by the Mayor of Donostia/San Sebastián Eneko Goia, PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos, Council of Europe Deputy Secretary General Bjørn Berge and the Vice-President of the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities Konstantinos Koukas.
Participants will hold an exchange of views with Christian Petry (Germany, SOC), Chairperson of the Sub-Committee on the Europe Prize, as well as with experts on citizen participation, deliberative democracy and human rights and international institutions, and young people. At the end of the session, a plaque to mark the 70th anniversary of the Europe Prize will be unveiled and a ‘Tree of Europe’ planted.
The afternoon will be dedicated to the official ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the Europe Prize (at the Donostia/San Sebastián Town Hall), with welcoming words by the Mayor of the city and the PACE President. During the ceremony, a video created to mark the 70th anniversary of the Europe Prize will be screened, and the 86 towns that have won the Europe Prize so far will be announced and congratulated.
Created in 1955 by PACE, the Europe Prize is the highest distinction awarded to a European city for its actions in the European domain. The Prize includes a trophy, a medal, a diploma and a grant to be used for a study visit to European institutions for young people from the winning city.
Contacts:
Donostiako Estrategia Bulegoa/Oficina de Estrategia de San Sebastián
Komunikazioa / Comunicación
[email protected]; +34 943 428 086 / 677 791 411
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Communication Division
[email protected]; +33 3 88 41 31 93