'For Our Europe' Award to the Ukrainian Ambassador

The Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Section of the National Association of Hungarian Journalists (MÚOSZ) has recognized the Ukrainian Ambassador to Hungary, Ljubov Nepop with the ‘For Our Europe’ award.

In his laudation at the award ceremony this Thursday, Hungary’s former EU commissioner (2004) and foreign minister (2009-10) Professor Péter Balázs highlighted that Ambassador Ljubov Nepop is fulfilling her mission as a diplomat in an exemplary manner, by making known in every possible way what is happening in her country in the face of Russian aggression. "She conveys the reality of the war in a personal voice and with conviction. The pictures and television reports are shocking in themselves, but the Ambassador's personal testimony and sometimes tears are credible witness to the news."

Ambassador Nepop knows Hungarian public opinion, as well as the political actors, well as she is on her third posting in Budapest, having spent a decade in Hungary, she speaks Hungarian fluently, the professor added. Through her interventions, the Ambassador is pushing the parties towards understanding and a solution. "This is the true achievement of a good and responsible diplomat, and it is what has earned her our respect and appreciation, which this award expresses in a modest form," Péter Balázs said.

The official justification for the award is as follows:

"To Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ljubov Nepop for her stand, her stance, her statements that have helped to understand the situation in Ukraine, and through her person, to the Ukrainian people for their self-sacrificing patriotic struggle for independence, their love of freedom and their aspiration to join a democratic Europe, as an expression of respect and solidarity."

Thanking the award, Ambassador Nepop expressed her appreciation to all journalists who contribute to the world learning about the truth of what is happening in Ukraine and help counter the Russian propaganda. “During the 71 days of the war in Ukraine, more than twenty journalists have lost their lives,” she added. “Their deaths are not in vain, their words reached a lot of people, they helped us to fight better for the truth.”

The ‘For Our Europe’ award, presented for the first time in 2019, is given to journalists, editorial offices, columns, publishers, institutions and others who, based on the nominations of the Section and the decision of the Board of Trustees, do an outstanding job in promoting the European Union, the people of the continent, the European ideals, values and processes.

In 2022, the other two recipients of the award are former justice minister (2009-10) Imre Forgács and business journalist Zsuzsa N. Vadász for their outstanding representation of European values in their books and articles.