1998 - Award of the Mérite européen to His Eminence Cardinal Franz König, Emeritus Archbishop of Vienna. The Cardinal is flanked to his left by Bruno Turbang, President of the Executive Board, and to the right, by André Heiderscheid, President of the Fondation du Mérite européen’s Board of Directors.

Franz König (3 August 1905 – 13 March 2004) was an Austrian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of Vienna from 1956 to 1985, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1958. The last surviving cardinal elevated by Pope John XXIII, he was the second-oldest and longest-serving cardinal worldwide at the time of his death.

1998 - Award of the Mérite européen to the Archbishop of Luxembourg, Mgr Fernand Franck.

Fernand Franck (born 6 May 1934 in Esch-sur-Alzette) is a Luxembourgish Roman Catholic bishop. He is Emeritus Archbishop of Luxembourg, the highest position in the Roman Catholic Church in Luxembourg, a position that he held between 21 December 1990 and 12 July 2011..

From left to right: André Heiderscheid, Bruno Turbang, Mgr Franck, Pierre Werner, former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker, then Prime Minister of Luxembourg and now President of the European Commission, and V. Fally.