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Romania's President Klaus Iohannis will receive today the German Civic Award bestowed by the Bad Harzburg Civic Foundation at a ceremony to be hosted by Benrath Castle in Dusseldorf, Germany, Agerpres reports.
According to the Romanian Presidential Administration, the Bad Harzburg Civic Foundation decided to award the German Civic Award to President Klaus Iohannis for his entire political career, particularly for his support for the peaceful coexistence of various ethnicities, commitment to freedom, democracy and pluralism, the restoration and modernisation of his hometown of Sibiu, supporting the anti-corruption fight and attachment to the idea of a united Europe. Delivering the laudatio speech will be Norbert Lammert, the 2015 German Civic Award laureate, a former chairman of the German Federal Parliament.
The Franz Werfel Prize is said to be awarded to the Romanian president in recognition of his activity in the field of promoting human rights and peaceful coexistence among ethnic groups throughout his political career. Delivering the laudatio speech will be Jean-Claude Juncker, a former chairman of the European Commission and prime minister of Luxembourg.
The German Civic Award is awarded by the Bad Harzburg Civic Foundation, Germany. The foundation was established in 1988 as an independent, non-partisan association, made up of personalities committed to preserving and promoting democracy and tolerance in Germany and Europe.
The stated objective of the foundation is to make democracy tangible, primarily by stimulating dialogue with citizens and their representatives in Germany. It has been awarding the German Civic Award since 1995 to public figures making a special contribution to the promotion of democracy and the common good.
Among the awardees are well-known dissident and former president of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel; the first president of the European Commission, Jacques Delors, and Germany's presidents Richard von Weizsacker and Roman Herzog.
The Franz Werfel Prize for Human Rights is awarded by the Bonn-based Centre Against Expulsions founded in 2000 as a project of the Federation of Expelled from Germany seeking to contribute to the fight against expulsions and genocide as political weapons at the global level and thus to contribute to understanding among nations, reconciliation and peaceful coexistence.
Its human rights prize has been awarded since 2003 to individuals or groups making a special contribution to combatting the violation of human rights through genocide, expulsion or the intentional destruction of national, ethnic, racial or religious groups.
A mong the laureates of the prize are the former German president Joachim Gauck, author Herta Muller, and historians Karl Schlogel and Michael Wolffsohn.
