Source: Blic
"Best European of the Year" Awards
The "Best European of the Year" plaques were awarded at a ceremony in the City Assembly last night to politicians, economists, businessman and athletes who contributed considerably to Serbia's EU integration in 2008.
The "European Night in Belgrade", an event which has been organized since 2000, was opened by Stamenko Joksimovic, Secretary General of the First European House which organizes this event together with the City Assembly, the Municipality of Cukarica and the delegation of the European Commission.
- When the First European House association was founded in 2000, we thought that Serbia will join the European Union very soon and that our job would become uninteresting. But the process has taken quite some time and we have been organizing the award of the plaques for the "Best European" for nine years now. Political party affiliation or any personal characteristic are not crucial for the award; instead the emphasis is on contribution in terms of bringing Serbia closer to what it should be its main objective at these hard times - Mr. Joksimovic said.
The awards were presented by the "Best Europeans" from previous years and Assistant Mayor of Belgrade Radmila Hrustanovic.
Vuk Jeremic, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Serbian Government, was awarded the "Best European" plaque in the field of politics.
- The year behind us was difficult, not just for Serbia, but for entire world as well.
The current crisis is not exclusively economic, it is also political.
Therefore the objective of European integration was rendered considerably difficult, but it should still be the guiding principle and the priority for our Government - Mr. Jeremic said.
Milos Bugarin, President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, was awarded the "Best European" plaque in the field of economy, the most European project is the exercise of duties of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance by Rodoljub Sabic, while the "Best European" in the field of entrepreneurship is Dragan Jovanovic, President of the Cacanska Banka.
Jelena Jankovic, the most European athlete of the year, could not attend the awards ceremony last night because of prior commitments.
Igor Fudik, Slovak Ambassador to Serbia, was voted the European representative in Serbia who made the greatest contribution in previous year to Serbia's EU integration by sharing the experiences of Slovakia since its EU accession.
- We should all be aware of the fact that Europe is not monolithic, but a union which is constantly changing. Serbia is a priority of the Slovak foreign policy and I hope that it will manage to join the Member States as soon as possible - Mr. Fudik said.
