P
rince
of
A
sturias
A
wards
1981-2014. S
peeches
11
disposition with which he has constructed a democratic and fertile peace for his people, by writing
one of the great chapters of contemporary European history. In his writings and his political work,
we find an intellectual stature and a moral integrity that have evolved out of a life of hard and
frequent trials, in which he has always enjoyed the support and succour of his nearest and dearest.
Václav Havel defends the idea —which we share with him— that the only true politics, the only
politics that are worthy of the name, are those that are devoted with simplicity and good sense to
the service of the community. A poet’s dream, perhaps naive, but which —idea upon idea—Václav
Havel has caused to come true in the Czech Republic, with honesty, courage and a sense of balance.
His presence among us serves as a reminder of the contribution of Czech workers to the mining
activities of Asturias. Some of them have paid tribute with their lives in that selfless effort that is
undertaken in the very entrails of our land.
I wish to conclude one more year by thanking the Jury members for their deliberations and
decisions. It is they, with their rigour, their complete independence and impartial judgement,
who make this event a jubilant celebration of creative intelligence and human greatness; and, as
a former member of these Juries, I wish to recall in particular Pilar Miró, whose recent loss has
grieved us all.
My gratitude goes out to our Trustees, for their generous support and concern, without which
the Foundation and its Awards would be reduced to a small corner of our imagination.
I would also like to express particular thanks to Asturias, this land that always welcomes us with
kindness and enthusiasm, and whose frank and open character spreads among us all its energy and
its hopeful vision of the future; and to this lovely town of Oviedo, in which alongside the limpid air
of autumn one may breathe the serene beauty of its age-old maturity.
As we have had the opportunity to confirm, the passion for knowledge, for teaching, for sharing
and opening up new inroads into history, are the common denominators of the Awards presented
this year. I wish to express my most sincere congratulations to those Laureates; and in doing so, on
this day when Spain expresses before the world its commitment to culture, I would like to invite
everyone to look to their example and join in their vitality and optimism, enabling us to sow with
them the seeds of a new time for peace, intelligence and freedom.
Thank you.
