EU President Jean-Claude Juncker was handed the European leader of the year prize at the European Leadership Awards gala ceremony on Monday.

Juncker beat chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and the Commission’s trade chief Cecilia Malmström to the award, which was bestowed upon the unelected Eurocrat by EU-funded Euronews and the European Business Summit (EBS).

All three nominees are staunch globalists, with Malmström having memorably declared that she “[does not take her] mandate from the European people”, while Barnier has consistently denounced borders, lauding mass immigration to Europe as essential to “human progress”.

Joking that the prize had come so late in his career it was “at the moment of autopsy”, the Luxembourgian neoliberal claimed the fact he was honoured at the end of his time as EU President rather than the beginning was “a recognition of the merits of the European Commission”. Referring to the EU funded news organisation giving the award, Juncker asserted that it definitely isn’t a “propaganda instrument”, just in case there was any doubt among those in the room.

Monday’s awards gala, which took place at what Euronews described as “the majestic Palais d’Egmont in Brussels”, also honoured “progressive” Slovak president-elect Zuzana Čaputová, whose recent election victory — fought on an anti-populist, pro-EU platform, surprised and delighted Eurocrats and the global media class.

Runners-up for this award were Greta Thunberg, the controversial schoolgirl whose global warming campaign demanding extreme cuts to carbon emissions has been encouraged by far-left radicals and Davos plutocrats alike, and “anti-racism” activist and retired footballer Lilian Thuram.

UK Politicians Line Up to Meet Climate Change Wunderkind Greta Thunberg https://t.co/XVTlWEcXKH — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) April 24, 2019

Breitbart London recently reported how, just days after the Notre-Dame fire, Thuram told French high school students it was “bizarre” that people could feel more upset over the destruction of the centuries-old cathedral’s spire than about the plight of illegal African migrants in the Mediterranean.

Other winners at the event were Vincent Zimmer and Markus Kressler, who were handed the European Entrepreneur of the Year gong for their work setting up Kiron Open Higher Education, which works to get ‘refugees’ onto university degree courses.

The winner of last year’s top award was French leader Emmanuel Macron, a committed Europhile who is lauded by the EU establishment but whose globalist policies — which critics say have squeezed the standard of living for ordinary people in France while making the rich richer — have sparked months of continuing protests demanding his resignation.