On 12th March 2005 the Europe Award International Prize Inauguration Ceremony took place in the cosy Giada hall of Midas Hotel in Rome in the presence of the representatives of Greece, Italy, Spain and Switzerland, the selected countries for that first celebration of the European working activities. We can see at the Committee desk Father Norberto Stonfer, Combonian Missionary in Sudan, Dr. Marco Gisotti, reporter and manager of the monthly magazine Modus Vivendi, Prof. Roma R. Maciejewicz, lecturer at the Luiss University of Rome, Dr. Monica Palozzi, President of the Associazione Culturale Pragmata, Prof. Dr. Francesco Cianciarelli, lecturer at the University of Teramo and Prof. Simonetta Fraschetti, teacher of History of Arts.
The president of the Associazione Culturale Pragmata introduced the night with the following opening speech:
In the name of the Associazione Culturale Pragmata I would like to explain our common project of celebrating the main human activity: the work, the motor of the social and economic development of our age.
With the conferral of Europe Award we intend to recognize and point out the merits of men and women, creators of everyday realities, who allowed, by means of their work, the realization of the European development. Tonight they prove with their presence here the enthusiasm that their work gave them.
The same ideas, intentions, trends and feelings which put together the Nations of the European Union and allow the spontaneous and quiet integration of people speaking different languages and having different habits, are celebrated today during this solemn convention before the representatives of various countries.
Through the analysis and the constant research of those enterprises reliably operating, complying with the rules of work and respecting their cooperators and customers, the Associazione Culturale Pragmata intends to draw a “detailed map” of those European firms that were able to stand out in their operative sector.
Tonight we celebrate our first conferral ceremony of the Europe Award dedicated to the sectors of Tourism, Industry, Arts and Crafts, Trade and Service, but others will follow in the next years.
Ten, a hundred, several days like this one will point out the professional and social development. Our ambition is discovering a larger area of that geographic scene full of skilled companies that are the pride of our economy.
The Europe Award Prize, consisting of the plate and the parchment, means to be the material symbol of the tribute that the community gives to those who merited and merit the satisfaction of their customers. Nevertheless it has to be intended as the ideal vehicle to keep on following the path of the good work which can proudly remind of what was achieved so far and spur on to work even better.
Before concluding I would like to express my own thought which I desire it was yours as well and a moment of reflection and humility for everybody, constantly and forever.
When in the evening we turn our eyes towards the sky and we see the moon shining far as always, we should try to imagine for a little while that in that same moment it is also seen by someone else in the world, someone that we don’t know and very far from us. Men, women and children suffering because of wars, diseases, under-nourishment and, what is worse, famine. They are so far from us not only due to the distance but also, and above all, due to their different social conditions.
That is why tonight the Associazione Culturale Pragmata, through Europe Award, wants to join with them, not only looking at the same moon but also holding their hands through a contribution that can transfer into them something that belongs to us. A love gift hoping that happiness will be one day the common element of mankind.
Tonight the donation is in favour of the children of the Combonian Mission to Khartoum (Sudan) and we give it to Father Norberto Stonfer, missionary of the Combonian Fathers.