Prof. Dr. Erzsébet Szalayné Sándor Receives the 2025 FUEN Award

The highlight of the 69th FUEN Congress, held in Bozen/Bulsan/Bolzano, was the presentation of the 2025 FUEN Award.
This year, the most prestigious European recognition in the field of minority protection was granted to Professor Erzsébet Szalayné Sándor, Deputy Commissioner for the Rights of National Minorities, for her decades-long commitment to defending human and minority rights.

In her laudation, Olívia Schubert, Vice President of FUEN, described Professor Erzsébet Szalayné Sándor as a “dedicated, competent, mediating, persistent, integrative and profoundly humane” personality, highlighting her twelve years of service as Deputy Commissioner and forty years of teaching in the field of minority protection.

In her acceptance speech, the awardee expressed her gratitude to FUEN and its member organisations for their unwavering efforts in minority advocacy since 1949.
She also emphasised the importance of mutual solidarity among communities, cultural diversity, and the active involvement of young people as the foundation for Europe’s future.

The FUEN Award is represented by the artwork “Two Bridges”, created by Danish-German sculptor Simone Bruhn, symbolising FUEN’s core values of connection, stability and peaceful coexistence.

We proudly congratulate Professor Erzsébet Szalayné Sándor on receiving the 2025 FUEN Award for her outstanding contribution to protecting human and minority rights.

Photos: László Mihály  / FUEN - Federal Union of European Nationalities