The presentation was conducted by French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy and French Sports Minister Jean-François Lamour at a ceremony in the French Foreign Ministry at the Quai d’Orsay in Paris.
 
In presenting the award, Douste-Blazy saluted Mosley’s “exemplary commitment to the service of motor sport and motoring.” He said: “[The Republic] wishes to pay homage to that sense of the general interest which has led you to promote, with much talent and efficiency, the strengthening of safety standards, not only on the roads of Europe but everywhere in the world.”
 
Douste-Blazy went on to describe some of Mosley’s many achievements throughout his career. They include the creation, in 1994, of the FIA Bureau in Brussels, which has given a voice in the European parliament to the 43 million European motorists affiliated to the FIA.
 
That same year Mosley was named Honorary President of the Automobile Users Intergroup of the European Parliament. Douste-Blazy said: “I know how much we owe to your action within the framework of that mandate, as it is thanks to the Intergroup that the European Parliament adopted the new legislation on crash testing, which came into effect in 1998.”
 
It was Mosley’s initiative to launch the European New Car Assessment Programme (EuroNCAP), which Douste-Blazy described as “the most productive initiative in the last twenty years in the field of road safety”.
 
It was also at Mosley’s instigation that the FIA Foundation was created in 2002, with the €360 million proceeds from the sale Formula One’s commercial rights. The non-profit-making organisation devotes several million euros a year to improving road and motor sport safety at the international level.
 
Douste-Blazy said: “I know that this Foundation recently donated 1.5 million dollars to the World Health Organisation for a joint road safety project in developing countries. That was a strong gesture towards the most deprived countries, and one which I would particularly like to salute this evening.”
 
He added: “It is primarily to people such as you, dear Max, and to the teams surrounding you, that we owe this considerable progress in terms of road safety. In the field of crash tests, electronic technologies, and the reduction of carbon emissions, the initiatives you have taken are at the vanguard of a new kind of driving attitude that I would describe as safer, more reliable and more intelligent. Everybody here tonight knows that the services you have rendered to road safety are immense.”
 
The ceremony was attended by Mosley’s family, friends and colleagues from the automotive industry and the world of motor sport. A number of motor sport’s major industry figures showed up to applaud Mosley’s achievements, including Bernie Ecclestone, Dietrich Mateschitz, Guy Frequelin, Jean Todt and Gerhard Berger.
 
The Legion d'Honneur is France's highest decoration. The order is conferred upon men and women, either French citizens or foreigners, for outstanding achievements in military or civil life.