On Tuesday 6 March 2018, H.S.H. Prince Albert II received the 2018 European Medal of Tolerance awarded by the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation (ECTR) at a Round Table discussion held in the Principality.

The distinction was given to the Sovereign Prince by the ECTR Chairman Dr Moshe Kantor and the Honourable Tony Blair, Director of ECTR and former UK Prime Minister, in the presence of some fifty European personalities.

It rewards H.S.H. the Prince’s personal commitment to matters of tolerance and reconciliation, in particular the duty of memory exemplified by the Sovereign Prince with the unveiling on 27 August 2015 at the Cemetery of Monaco, of a commemorative stele in memory of Jewish deportees taken from the Principality during World War II.

Before receiving the distinction, H.S.H. the Prince delivered the welcome address for the Round Table on ‘Tackling Extremism and Intolerance in a Diverse Society.

Some fifty participants ― political, academic and from other horizons ― from 22 countries met in Monaco to discuss themes relatives to political radicalisation, online hate speech and the integration of immigrant communities.

The personalities participating in this round table included Rachida Dati, French MEP and former Minister of Justice; Kjell Magne Bondevik, President of the Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Rights and former Norwegian Prime Minister; Franco Frattini, former Italian Foreign Minister and EU Commissioner for Justice; and Vuk Jeremić, former Serbian Foreign Minister and President of the 67th Session of the UN General Assembly.

The European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation is a non-governmental organisation founded in Paris in October 2008. ECTR prepares practical recommendations for international governments and organisations to help improve interreligious and interethnic relations in Europe. ECTR focuses on the fight against xenophobia anti-Semitism and racial discrimination in the modern world.