It is an award given by the Catalan Association of European Journalists in collaboration with Catalonia International

Xavier Vidal-Folch has received the Ernest Udina Prize for the European Trajectory 2024. The Catalan Association of European Journalists (APEC) has given the award to the El País journalist for his career as a correspondent in Brussels, for his professional commitment to Europeanism and for his didactic style in making the complex reality of the EU comprehensible. At the handover ceremony, which took place at the Office of the European Parliament in Barcelona, ​​Vidal-Folch warned that extremism is a very serious threat to European democracy and that journalism cannot stay neutral towards the European concept or the defence of democracy.

APEC also recognised the radio programme "Tot a Europa" and its director Francesc Cruanyes. The Ernest Udina Prize has the support of Catalonia International, the Catalan Association of Journalists, the Office of the European Parliament in Barcelona, ​the Ministry of European Union and Foreign Action, and the City Council of Barcelona. Catalan Foreign minister Jaume Duch, who worked in Brussels for many years, insisted that the link between  journalism and Europe is essential.

Among others, the event was also attended by Laura Foraster i Lloret, secretary general of Catalonia International; Maria Eugènia Gay, second deputy mayor of the City Council of Barcelona; Ernest Urtasun, Spanish Minister of Culture and former MEP; and Sergi Barrera, head of the European Parliament Office in Barcelona, ​​who acted as host.