Javier Solana became a laureate of the Jan Nowak-Jeziorański Award 2024
The prestigious award, given annually in Wrocław, Poland, on Saturday, 24 June 2024, went to Javier Solana, a Spanish politician and diplomat who presided over NATO from 1995 to 1999 as its Secretary General, and from 1999 to 2009 held the post of High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Secretary General of the Council of the European Union.
It was during Solana’s term as NATO Secretary General that Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary joined the North Atlantic Alliance.
The Jan Nowak-Jeziorański Award, awarded since 2004, was established by Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, the city of Wroclaw, the College of Eastern Europe, the Ossoline National Institute and our University.
The award was presented on Saturday, 22 June 2024 at a traditional gala in the Ossolineum courtyard.
– Wrocław, the city that curates the Jan Nowak-Jeziorański Award, is proud and happy to accept Javier Solana, the signer of Poland’s admission to NATO, a man who defined his professional political life more broadly even than the award’s maxim states: “for thinking of the state as a common good” – Jacek Sutryk, mayor of Wrocław, said during the laudation given to this year’s laureate. – Javier Solana with his life and work shows that the world is also our common good, requiring our special care and concern. Excellency, in transferring this award into your hands, we thank and honor your service in a special way by doing so on behalf of Jan Nowak-Jeziorański. We pass this award through your hands also symbolically to all those who accompanied the process of joining NATO, reminding ourselves and the world at the same time of the values that the alliance upholds, that all its members uphold, that we also uphold – added Jacek Sutryk.
The physicist who became a diplomat and one of the most important people in the world began his career path by studying physics at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and then at the University of Virginia in the United States, where he earned his PhD. Scientifically, he was involved in solid state physics. Solana then became a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE). Between 1982 and 1995, he held various ministerial positions in the Felipe González government, including Minister of Culture, Minister of Education and Science, and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
In 1995, he was elected Secretary General of NATO. On 12 March 1999, in Independence, USA, in the presence of Polish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek and US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright accepted the act of Poland’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance. He is recognized for his diplomatic skills and his contributions to the development of security policy and international cooperation. His prolific career includes both domestic and international political successes, making him one of Spain’s most influential politicians in recent decades.
– It is with great honor and great emotion that I accept this award. Among those honored earlier are many of my warm friends. I am happy and it is extremely important for me that I can be in Poland today, that I can be in Wrocław again today. Thank you again for this great award. For us, Poland has always been an important part of international security. Once you aspired to NATO membership, today you are happily with us for 25 years as an extremely important partner of the Alliance – Javier Solana said after receiving the Award.
“Poland holds a special place for me. his is how it was, is and will remain
for the rest of my days. Poland has always been, is and will always be an important
point on the map of Europe and the world”
The event also included a discussion with the laureate and Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland from 1995 to 2005, who, together with Javier Solana, brought Poland into the North Atlantic Alliance.
– We felt Javier Solana’s determination to support Poland’s aspirations to be part of NATO, and today the Jan Nowak-Jeziorański Award is in the right hands. Just as Jan Nowak dragged Poland to the West during his years of public activity, Javier Solana anchored us in that West, anchoring us in Europe. We were very fortunate as a country that he was then secretary of NATO. At that time Javier Solana became an example of combining the qualities of pragmatism and openness in international politics, to the benefit of Poland – said Aleksander Kwaśniewski.
This year, TVN television and the daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita were again media patrons of the event.
About the Jan Nowak-Jeziorański Award
The Jan Nowak-Jeziorański Award has been awarded in Wrocław since 2004, and is always presented in June. It goes to figures who epitomize “thinking about the state as a common good,” as well as to institutions that made significant contributions to the overthrow of communism, Poland’s independence and the formation of civil society in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
The chapter of the award includes: Jacek Sutryk (president of Wrocław), dr Łukasz Kamiński (director of the Ossoline National Institute), dr Rafał Dutkiewicz (former mayor of Wrocław), Laurynas Vaiciunas (president of the College of Eastern Europe), prof. Robert Olkiewicz (rector of the University of Wrocław), prof. Jerzy Zdrada (historian) and Jan Malicki (historian). Until his death, Władysław Bartoszewski was also a member of the chapter.
Winners of the Jan Nowak-Jeziorański Award included:
2004 | Tadeusz Mazowiecki – the first prime minister of the Third Republic (1989-1991)
2005 | George H. W. Bush – 41st President of the United States (1989-1993)
2014 | Zbigniew Brzeziński – from 1977 to 1981, President Carter’s national security advisor to the US
2021 | Svetlana Tikhanouska, Marya Kalesnikava and Volha Kavalkova – fighting for democratic standards in Belarus
2022 | International Association for History, Education, Charity and Defense of Human Rights “Memorial”|
2023 | Andrii Deshchytsia – Ambassador of Ukraine to Poland from 2014 to 2022
About the winner of the Jan Nowak-Jeziorański Award 2024
Javier Solana Madariaga, born 14 July 1942 in Madrid, is a Spanish physicist, politician and diplomat. His career includes many key roles in both Spanish politics and the international arena. Prior to his political career, Solana was a professor of physics at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
In 1995, he was elected Secretary General of NATO. His tenure coincided with a period of important changes in NATO’s structure, including the expansion of the Alliance to include new member states.
After completing his term at NATO, Solana became the European Union’s High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, serving in that role until 2009. He was also Secretary General of the Council of the European Union and Secretary General of the Western European Union.
Photos and press materials – City Hall of Wrocław
