On 22 June 2022, the Chancellery of the European Citizen’s Prize decided on the winning projects of the European Citizen’s Prize. The Prize recognises initiatives that contribute to European cooperation and the promotion of common values. This year, 300 applications were submitted, out of which 30 winners were selected. Awarded every year by the European Parliament, the Prize goes to projects organised by people or organisations that encourage: mutual understanding and closer integration between people in the EU, cross-border cooperation that builds a stronger European spirit, EU values and fundamental rights. Extracts from the award ceremony in the EP in Brussels.

Brussels

CHARANZOVÁ, Dita (Renew, CZ)

ceremony

European Citizen's Prize 2022 (T)

Citizens Prize 2022: extracts from the award ceremony

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/66340357/1667994623907_I232800Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

Title: Citizens Prize 2022: extracts from the award ceremony

SOUNDBITE (English), Dita CHARANZOV&Aacute; (Renew, CZ), Chancellor of the European Citizens' Prize, The prise is to honour its honour to immense contribution and the extraordinary passion of the European citizens towards helping others in Europe. Even in these days, difficult days that we are living in Europe and despite the war in Ukraine, energy, economic crisis affecting many Europeans. European citizens like you are still there to defend, defend European values based on human rights, justice and democracy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dita CHARANZOVÁ (Renew, CZ), Chancellor of the European Citizens' Prize, The citizens prise is an important way to shine a light on the extraordinary action, action of ordinary citizens who don't wait for governments to solve problems or to make the world better, but which take the initiative and act. The citizens prise is the way that we as the European Parliament can say, thank you. Thank you for looking beyond to yourself. Thank you for thinking of others. Thank you for knowing that you can make a difference. Thank you for transforming the spirit of the European values into practical deeds.

SOUNDBITE (English), Pavlina LOUZENSKA, Founder and CEO of Holkymarketingu, Czech Republic, In Europe, at that time, only eight years ago, out of all Start-Up Founders only 5% of them were female. If we looked at the creative directors of advertising agencies all over the world, only 3% of them were female. And then I looked at the gender pay gap in the Czech Republic, my country, and it had the second highest in the European Union, almost 20%.

SOUNDBITE (English), Pavlina LOUZENSKA, Founder and CEO of Holkymarketingu, Czech Republic, But what I'm most proud of and what I want to share with you here is that 40% of our alumni were given a scholarship. Those are mums on maternity leave, single mothers, students or women over 50 years old who have it really hard on the labour market. Together with my co-founder Suzette Audette and Anita Martinek, we want to help more women have a choice to pay the best of their life and career. And thanks to European citizenship price, I believe we will.

SOUNDBITE (English), Natalie KONTOULIS, Press Officer of the EP, Moderator, We will have a musical performance by Aleksey Shadrin on cello and Jorge Jimenez also on cello.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish),Carlos SAN JUAN DE LAORDEN, Initiator of the campaign "Soy Lajor No Idiota" in Spain, I ask you this afternoon in the European Parliament, to support us, to help us before Mrs. Nadia Calviño, the Spanish Minister of Economy, and to bring into force as soon as possible the law on the Independent Authority for the defensor of the Financial User, which will mainly protect the weakest elders, the elderly who have no chance of complaining in the face of a financial outrage.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish),Carlos SAN JUAN DE LAORDEN, Initiator of the campaign "Soy Lajor No Idiota" in Spain, Let's make a Europe that does a country for old people.

SOUNDBITE (English), Marta BARANDYI, Funding Chair of Promote Ukraine, One week after I came back from Ukraine in March, we were given a building station, Europarl, by President Metsola. And this time, one week after I came back from Ukraine, we are given the European citizens prise. This symbol of recognition will stay with us.

SOUNDBITE (English), Marta BARANDYI, Funding Chair of Promote Ukraine, This marks the strength, the force and the resistance. If we 24 of us were able to make it, then ten of us here in this room were able to make it. Just imagine how much hundreds of us in this building, thousands of us in this city. Millions of us in this country and beyond can do when we unite our forces to defend peace and democracy.