European Medal of Tolerance Ivo Josipovic and Ex-President of Serbia Boris Tadic at the European Parliament in Brussels by European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation Chairman Alexander Kwasniewski and ECTR Co-Chairman Viatcheslav Kantor, in recognition of the Balkan statesmens’ “significant contribution to promoting, seeking, safeguarding or maintaining tolerance on the European continent”. In 2015 Samuel Eto'o, a famous football-player, was awarded for his fight against racism in football. The European Medal of Tolerance for the 2016 was conferred on film director Andrey Konchalovsky "for his cultural achievements focused on preserving the tragic memory of the past including his film "Paradise". The European Medal of
President of the European Parliament up a debate on the role of the president and make the figure more dynamic, to counterbalance the growing power of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. However, on 8 July 2009 Watson announced that he withdrew his candidacy thus leaving Buzek with only one opponent. The other official candidate was Eva-Britt Svensson, nominated from EUL-NGL. She campaigned with the slogan "a different voice". She was the first MEP from Sweden to candidate to the position. In the first vote of the new Parliament Jerzy Buzek (EPP, Poland) was elected Parliament president, winning with 555 votes to