President of PanEuropa Bulgaria Gergana Passy awarded Petar Stoyanov, President of Bulgaria (1997-2002) with the European Achievement Award “Prof. Ivan Shishmanov” for contribution to the European integration of Bulgaria.

Special participation in the event took Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva, Günter Verheugen, European Commissioner for Enlargement (1999 – 2004), Vice-president of the European Commission (2004-2010) and Geoffrey Van Orden, Member of European Parliament and Rapporteur for Bulgaria (1999 – 2006).

In 2017, PanEuropa Bulgaria established the European Achievement Award in the name of the first Bulgarian guardian for European unity, prof. Ivan Shishmanov, who was also the founder of the Pan-European Movement in Bulgaria in 1927.

The aim of the initiative is to draw public attention to the values ​​of united Europe since the 1926 Vienna Congress of Europeans. Bulgaria’s representative at this momentous pan-European event was precisely prof. Ivan Shishmanov, who included in his speech the main ideas that post-war Europe should develop in the direction of peace and unity.

In 2017, the first award “Prof. Ivan Shishmanov” was granted to Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, within the framework of whose mandate the Treaties of Accession of Bulgaria to NATO and the EU were signed.

The ceremony was organized by PanEuropa Bulgaria, with the support of the Bulgarian Diplomatic Institute, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Bulgaria and Aurubis Bulgaria.