The award was made in recognition of New Europeans’ leading role in the campaign to safeguard the rights of EU27 citizens in the UK and Britons in Europe following the Brexit referendum.
Roger Casale, founder and CEO of New Europeans also received the Medal of the President of the French Republic at the ceremony.
Speaking after the ceremony, Roger Casale said:
“It is both thrilling and humbling to receive such an award from the representatives of men and women who daily put their lives on the line to defend Europe.”
The Berlin Security Conference is an annual gathering of defence chiefs, parliamentarians and industry specialists organised by Behörden Spiegel.
Niels Annen, Minister of State in the German Federal Foreign Office and Michel Barnier, the EU’s Chief Brexit negotiator are both members of the Advisory Board.
The CiDAN European Award for Citizenship, Security and Defence rewards outstanding efforts towards promoting European citizenship, and European security and defence awareness.
The prize is organised annually by the association “Civisme Défense Armées Nation” (CiDAN), together with the European Interparliamentary Security and Defence Association, whose President is Robert Walter, the former Conservative MP. It was first awarded in 2011, under the High Patronage of the President of the European Council.
Speaking at the ceremony, CiDAN President Jacques Tissier said:
“It is important for those who serve in our armed services to know that they have the support of organisations in civil society which also work tirelessly to safeguard our rights and freedoms in Europe.”
Alongside New Europeans, winners of the CIDAN prize 2018 included Help for Heroes, Ad Agusta (a veterans association in France), as well as a network of three French regional associations of reservists for the development of exchanges with their counterparts in Germany, Spain and Belgium.
