The “European Prize” is organized by the Moscow European Club of the State Duma and is held with the assistance of the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation. The expert council of the award is headed by Assistant to the President of Russia Sergey Yastrzhembsky and EU Ambassador in the Russian Federation Mark Franko. The chairman of the organizing committee is the Minister of Culture and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, Alexander Sokolov. The idea of the award originated when the sculptor was working on the image of Alexander the Great. The Gordian knot, which the great commander did cut, is nothing more than a circle of stereotypes: religious, legal, superstition, ignorance. And it is enough to insert the figure of the Winner into this circle, who cut it, and the idea of the image was found. If you cut the circle – it turns into a spiral. Spiral of life development. Tolerance is a way out of the circle of stereotypes. This is the path to harmony.
Slavery, racism, nazism, poverty, etc. – These are human stereotypes that must be eliminated and destroyed. According to the author – sculptor Gregory Pototsky – President of the Academy of Kindness, world peace will only exist when people will be motivated by kindness. “The purpose of the new award is to promote the connection of Russia with the countries of Europe and strengthen European identity,” said Alexander Sokolov, chairman of the award organizing committee, which took place at a solemn ceremony on March 31, 2008 in Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.