Aleksander Kwaśniewski is a Polish politician and journalist. He served as the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005. He was born in Białogard, and during communist rule, he was active in the Socialist Union of Polish Students and was the Minister for Sport in the Communist government during the 1980s. After the fall of Communism, he became a leader of the left-wing Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland, a successor to the former ruling Polish United Workers' Party, and a co-founder of the Democratic Left Alliance.
Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares, was a Portuguese politician, who served as prime minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as the 17th president of Portugal from 1986 to 1996. He was the first secretary-general of the Socialist Party, from its foundation in 1973 to 1986. A major political figure in Portugal, he is considered the father of Portuguese democracy.
Wilfried Achiel Emma Martens was a Belgian politician who served as prime minister of Belgium from 1979 to 1981 and from 1981 to 1992. A member of the Flemish Christian People's Party, during his premiership he oversaw the transformation of Belgium into a federal state. He was one of the founders of the European People's Party.
Edoardo "Eddie" Fenech Adami, is a Maltese politician and Nationalist politician who served as the prime minister of Malta from 1987 until 1996, and again from 1998 until 2004. Subsequently, he was the seventh president of Malta from 2004 to 2009. He led his party to win four general elections, in 1987, 1992, 1998 and 2003, as well as the majority of votes in 1981. Staunchly pro-European, Fenech Adami was fundamental for Malta's accession to the European Union.
Ivan Gašparovič is a Slovak politician and lawyer who was third president of Slovakia from 2004 to 2014. He was also the first and currently the only Slovak president to be re-elected.
António Luís Santos da CostaGCIH is a Portuguese lawyer and politician who has served as the 119th and current prime minister of Portugal since 26 November 2015, presiding over the XXI (2015–2019), XXII (2019–2022) and XXIII Constitutional Governments (2022–present).
Dimitris Avramopoulos is a Greek politician of the conservative New Democracy party, and former career diplomat. He has served in various high-level cabinet posts, including Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for National Defence, and was Mayor of Athens in 1995–2002. He served as EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship in the Juncker Commission between 2014 and 2019.
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro was the president of Italy from 1992 to 1999. A member of Christian Democracy (DC), he became an independent politician after the DC's dissolution in 1992, and was close to the centre-left Democratic Party when it was founded in 2007.
Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa is a Portuguese politician and academic. He is the 20th and current president of Portugal, since 9 March 2016. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, though he suspended his party membership for the duration of his presidency. Rebelo de Sousa has previously served as a government minister, parliamentarian in the Assembly of the Portuguese Republic, legal scholar, journalist, political analyst, law professor, and pundit.
Martin Schulz is a German politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany from 1994 to 2017 and a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) from 2017 to 2021. During his tenure he was Leader of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats from 2004 to 2012, President of the European Parliament from 2012 to 2017 and Leader of the Social Democratic Party from 2017 to 2018.
A dynastic order, monarchical order, or house order is an order under royal patronage. Such an order is bestowed by, as a legitimate fons honorum, a sovereign or the head of a once-sovereign ruling family. These are often considered part of the cultural patrimony of the ruling family. Dynastic orders were often founded or maintained to reward service to a monarch or their subsequent dynasty.
Jaime José de Matos da Gama, GCC, GCIH, GCL is a Portuguese former politician. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal from 1983 to 1985 and again from 1995 to 2002, and he was President of the Assembly of the Republic from 2005 to 2011. Since leaving politics, he has worked as Senior Strategic Counsel at the Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy and business advisory firm, and as Chairman of the bank Novo Banco dos Açores.
Prokopios Pavlopoulos, commonly shortened to Prokopis (Προκόπης), is a Greek retired politician, who served as the president of Greece from 2015 to 2020. A member of New Democracy, he previously was Minister of the Interior from 2004 to 2009. He was succeeded by Katerina Sakellaropoulou on 13 March 2020, who became the first woman to serve as President of Greece.
Luís Filipe Marques Amado, GCC is a portuguese politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2011 in Portugal's XIII Government led by the Socialist Party. Before replacing Diogo Freitas do Amaral as Minister of Foreign Affairs, on 30 June 2006, Amado had served as Minister of Defence. On 30 June 2007, he succeeded to the EU Council Presidency on behalf of Portugal.
The Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is an order of merit of Luxembourg, instituted on 23 January 1961 by Grand Duchess Charlotte. Grand Master of the order is the Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Besides the five classes, a gilt medal can also be bestowed.
Fra' Robert Matthew Festing GCStJ OBE TD DL was an English Roman Catholic official who was the Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta from 2008 until his resignation on 28 January 2017, following a dispute with the Vatican.
João Bosco Soares da Mota Amaral is a Portuguese politician. He served as President of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal from 2002 to 2005 and President of the Autonomous Regional Government of the Azores from 1976 to 1995.
Henrique Afonso da Silva Horta was a Portuguese colonial administrator, and a vice-admiral of the Portuguese Navy.
Luís Filipe de Castro Mendes is a Portuguese politician who served as Minister of Culture from 14 April 2016 to 15 October 2018. Mendes graduated from the University of Lisbon with a law degree. He served as the Portuguese ambassador to Budapest from 2003 to 2007, and as the ambassador to New Delhi from 2007 to 2009.
Ursula Schleicher is a German Christian Social Union in Bavaria politician and harpist who served two terms in the Bundestag from 1972 to 1980 and five terms in the European Parliament between 1979 and 2004. She served as state chair of the Paneuropean Union in Bavaria between 1988 and 1994 before becoming its deputy federal chair in 1995 and was a Vice-President of the European Parliament from 1994 to 1999. Schleicher was appointed Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, the Bavarian Order of Merit and the Grand Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2001.
