Since 1996 the editors of the European editions of the ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

'' magazine have named "European of the Year" individuals who best embody the traditions and values of Europe. * 1996: Roman Catholic Father

Imre Kozma Imre Kozma (4 June 1940 – 17 October 2024) was a Hungarian Roman Catholic priest, the founder of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, patron of East German refugees arriving to Hungary in 1988–89. Biograph ...

, chairman of the Hungarian Malteser Caritas-Service. * 1997: Norwegian Frederic Hauge, founder of the environmental group Bellona. * 1998:

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

solo-skipper

Pete Goss Pete Goss, MBE (born 22 December 1961) is a British yachtsman who has sailed more than . A former Royal Marine, he is famous for his pioneering project Team Philips. He was invested in the Legion d'Honneur for saving fellow sailor Raphaël Din ...

, who saved his French friend Raphael Dinelli during a solo yachting competition. * 1999: Danish

Inge Genefke Inge Genefke (born 1938) is a Danish campaigner and worker on behalf of torture victims. She received the Right Livelihood Award in 1988 "for helping those whose lives have been shattered by torture to regain their health and personality." Work Bo ...

, for her commitment to the treatment and rehabilitation of torture victims. * 2000:

Paul van Buitenen Paul van Buitenen (; born 28 May 1957) is a retired Dutch politician of the Europe Transparent Party who served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2009. He was an assistant-auditor in the European Commission's Financial Control ...

, who uncovered mismanagement within the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

. * 2001: Linus Benedict Torvalds, the inventor of

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

. * 2002:

Eva Joly Eva Joly (; born Gro Eva Farseth; 5 December 1943) is a Norwegian-born French ''juge d'instruction'' (magistrate) and politician for Europe Écologie–The Greens. She represented that party as a candidate for the presidency of France in the 20 ...

, former adjudicator in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

(among others in the Tapie corruption scandal regarding

Elf Aquitaine Elf Aquitaine is a French brand of oils and other motor products (such as brake fluids) for automobiles and trucks. Elf is a former petroleum company which merged with TotalFina to form "TotalFinaElf". The new company changed its name to Total ...

). * 2003:

Šimon Pánek Šimon Pánek (born 27 December 1967) is the executive director of the Czech humanitarian organisation People in Need (Člověk v tísni), which he co-founded in 1992. He is also a former Czech student activist who was notable for his activities ...

, founder of People in Need. * 2004: German jurist

Peter Eigen Peter Eigen (born June 11, 1938) is a German lawyer, development economist, and civil society leader. Eigen founded Transparency International (TI) in 1993 and chaired the organization for 12 years, a non-governmental organization with national ...

, founder of

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil s ...

. * 2005: Russian doctor

Leonid Roshal Leonid Mikhailovich Roshal (; born April 27, 1933) is a noted pediatrician from Moscow, Russia, expert for the World Health Organization, and chairman of International Charity Fund to Help Children in Disasters and Wars. Biography Roshal was b ...

, who mediated in the

Beslan school hostage crisis The Beslan school siege, also referred to as the Beslan school hostage crisis or the Beslan massacre, was an Islamic terrorist attack that started on 1 September 2004. It lasted three days, and involved the imprisonment of more than 1,100 peop ...

. * 2006:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Ayaan Hirsi Ali (; born 13 November 1969) is a Dutch and American writer, activist, conservative thinker and former politician. She is a critic of Islam and an advocate for the rights and self-determination of Muslim women, opposing forced mar ...

, for her support of Muslim females threatened by religious fanatics. * 2007: Swiss professor

Ruedi Lüthy Ruedi may refer to: * Ruedi (given name), German given name * Ruedi Reservoir, on the Western Slope of the Continental Divide on the Fryingpan River, Colorado, United States of America * Ruedi–Allgower classification, system of categorizing pilon ...

, for his support of African

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

victims. * 2008: French economist Maria Nowak, for her micro-credit program. * 2009: German athlete

Joachim Franz Joachim was, according to Sacred tradition, the husband of Saint Anne, the father of Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary (mother of Jesus), and the maternal grandfather of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Gospel of James, part of ...

, for his global efforts against AIDS. * 2010: Romanian

Iana Matei Iana Matei is a Romanian activist and founder of Reaching Out Romania, an organisation which aims to find and rehabilitate victims of forced prostitution and sex trafficking. Early life Iana Matei was born in Orăștie, Romania. Her mother was a ...

, for her work to fight forced prostitution in Romania. * 2011: Doctor

Monika Hauser Monika Hauser (born 24 May 1959 in Thal, Switzerland) is a Swiss-born Italian physician, gynecologist, and humanitarian. She is the founder of Medica mondiale, an internationally renowned women's rights and aid organization.Nicholas Watt, Ian T ...

, for her work with sexual-assault victims in war zones. * 2012: Bulgarian sailor Petar Petrov, who saved 500 people during the ''Costa Concordia'' disaster. * 2013: Polish director of

Belsat TV Belsat (; ; stylised as B☰LSAT) is a Polish free-to-air terrestrial and satellite television channel aimed at Belarus. The channel is a subsidiary of Telewizja Polska, TVP S.A. From the outset, it has been co-funded by the Ministry of Foreign ...

Agnieszka Romaszewska-Guzy Agnieszka Maria Romaszewska-Guzy (born 15 January 1962) is a Polish press and television journalist, director of Biełsat TV (2007–2024) and since 2011, vice-president of the Association of Polish Journalists. Biography Romaszewska-Guzy is the ...

, for providing a voice for Belarus. * 2014: Swiss entrepreneur and politician

Thomas Minder Thomas Minder (born 26 December 1960 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland) is a Swiss entrepreneur and politician. Minder was elected to the Swiss Council of States for the canton of Schaffhausen in 2011. He is an independent but sits with the Swiss Pe ...

. * 2015:

Felix Finkbeiner Felix Finkbeiner (born 8 October 1997) is a German environmentalist and the founder of the international tree-planting and environmental advocacy organization Plant-for-the-Planet. Life and education Finkbeiner is son of Frithjof Finkbeiner (bus ...

(born 1997) founder of the international children and youth initiative Plant-for-the-Planet, to mitigate effects of climate change. * 2016:

Laura Codruța Kövesi Laura Codruța Kövesi (; ; born 15 May 1973) is the first European Public Prosecutor's Office, European Chief Prosecutor and the former chief prosecutor of Romania's National Anticorruption Directorate (), a position she held from 2013 until ...

(born 1973) current chief prosecutor of Romania's

National Anticorruption Directorate The National Anticorruption Directorate (), formerly National Anticorruption Prosecution Office (), is the Romanian agency tasked with preventing, investigating and prosecuting Political corruption, corruption-related offenses (such as bribery, g ...

. * 2017:

Boyan Slat Boyan Slat (born 27 July 1994) is a Dutch inventor and entrepreneur. A former aerospace engineering student, he is the CEO of The Ocean Cleanup. Initial interest in plastic pollution In 2011, Slat went scuba diving in Greece and found that the ...

(born 1994) Dutch inventor, entrepreneur and founder of

The Ocean Cleanup The Ocean Cleanup is a nonprofit environmental engineering organization based in the Netherlands that develops and deploys technology to extract plastic pollution from the oceans and to capture it in rivers before it can reach the ocean. Their i ...

. *2018: Edit Schlaffer, founder and chairwoman of

Women Without Borders Women without Borders is an international advocacy and research organization for women. It is based in Vienna, Austria, and works with international partner organizations around the world. Dr. Edit Schlaffer founded WwB in 2002 with the goal of ...

*2019:

Òscar Camps Òscar Camps Gausachs (Barcelona, 28 November 1963), is a Catalan lifeguard, entrepreneur and activist, known mainly for being the founder and director of the NGO Proactiva Open Arms. He was awarded the Catalan Prize of the Year in 2015. Born in B ...

, sea rescue and founder of

Proactiva Open Arms Proactiva Open Arms (POA) is a Spanish NGO devoted to search and rescue (SAR) at sea. Set up in October 2015, it carried out its first rescue action that same month from its base on the Greek island of Lesbos. As well as maintaining a permanent ba ...

*2020: Selina Juul, Danish founder and chairman of the board of

Stop Wasting Food Stop Wasting Food () is a Danish consumer organization that works for the reduction of food waste in society. It was established in 2008 by Selina Juul, who acts as the movement's day-to-day leader and spokesperson. The organization is run by volu ...

movement. *2021:

Petteri Taalas Jukka Petteri Taalas (born 3 July 1961 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish meteorologist and former Secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization. Appointed in 2015 by the World Meteorological Congress, the supreme body of the Organi ...

, head of the

World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology an ...

References

{{reflist European human rights awards Awards established in 1996