The members of the Jury for the 1996 Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation, Fernando Ramón Fernández Noval, Antonio Garrigues Walker, Manuel Olivencia, Marcelino Oreja Aguirre, Guillermo Perinat, Francisco Pinto Balsemao, Ovidio Sánchez, Nicolás Sartorius, Gustavo Suárez Pertierra, gathered in Oviedo under the presidency of Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo and with Teodoro López-Cuesta Egocheaga acting as secretary, have unanimously agreed to grant the 1996 Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation to the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Helmut Kohl for his eminent participation in the construction of Europe, his contribution to an ever-closer union between the nations of the continent and to the permanent drive towards the political union of Europe, and also for his decisive performance in the unification of Germany.