willem f duisenberg : international charlemagne prize of aachen for 2002 acceptance speech by dr willem f duisenberg, president of the european central bank, aachen, 9 may 2002. * * * ladies and gentlemen, for the first time, the charlemagne prize association has decided to honour not an individual or a group of persons, but an object. you have chosen to pay tribute to " the euro – our money ". for more than a decade now, monetary union has been a focus of public attention and a major issue of public debate. the depth of feeling generated by the euro, whether enthusiasm or hostility, has been far greater than what we are used to in this typically unglamorous field of economic management that is monetary policy. in fact, a lot of the attention gained by the euro was and is directed not so much at the currency itself, but more at the underlying political vision, of which it has become the symbol. by accepting today the charlemagne prize on behalf of the euro, i would like to pass on the credit for it to those who forged that vision of europe and turned it into reality. among them were helmut kohl and francois mitterand, who jointly won this prize in 1988. the vision of a united europe was born, let us not forget, from a desire for peace and prosperity in a continent which was so often divided by internecine conflict, and which embroiled the rest of the world in two wars within two generations. it would be inaccurate to say that the vision of a united europe was born solely out of the horrors of the first and second world wars. it existed long beforehand. but significantly, it was from these two conflicts that the founding fathers of the current process of european integration found the strength to succeed where earlier visionaries had failed. in the 1920s, an austrian diplomat, count coudenhove - kalergi, emerged as the founder of the european movement. he remarked that " even more than a common history, it is a common destiny that makes the union of the people of europe a necessity ". incidentally, and unsurprisingly, he went on to become the first person to receive the charlemagne prize. and as aristide briand, the french statesman, later pointed out, it is the mutual vulnerability of the people of europe – if only because of the geography of our continent – which creates the conditions for solidarity, and the pressing need for mutual confidence. this, in essence, was the

. this applies to the constitutional value of money as well as to its economic value. it was wise, therefore, that the drafters of the treaty chose to make the monetary constitution of europe not only solid, but the most solid in the world, in the sense that it is possibly the most difficult to alter. towards a third contract we know that such a bold step as the single currency was conceived as part of a wider process of uniting europe not only economically but also politically. today, a new path is being explored : the convention on the future of europe has been established. its task is to make proposals on furthering the construction of a united europe as well as on streamlining and democratising the structure of the union. if it succeeds in this task, the convention will help to complement the existing economic constitution with effective and transparent political structures and processes. in the same way that the economic constitution, because it is based on sound principles, is capable of meeting the challenges of the future, so will europe as a whole be better equipped to meet its citizens'expectations. so will europe as a whole be better able to meet the challenges it faces, be they from within or from without, and to assume the international responsibilities commensurate with its size and its importance. we may ask what we can expect from the convention in our main field of interest and responsibility, safeguarding the value of our currency. when quoting nicolas oresme, i already implicitly gave my view. i consider the existing economic constitution, as set down in the present treaties, to be, on the whole, satisfactory, based on sound principles and capable of meeting the challenges of the future. in particular, this applies to the fundamental features of monetary union and the escb, the elements of the monetary contract i just referred to. conclusion since the monetary chapter of the constitution, at least, has been completed, let me also bring my remarks to a conclusion : for more than ten years, the euro – as a goal – has crystallised hopes and fears, and has attracted praise and criticism, not only in relation to the prospect of a single currency but also in relation to the entire process of european integration. the introduction of the euro was a momentous event for europe, made possible because of the two contracts i have been talking about. the first, money itself, is the contract that creates ties between the people of the euro area – and also forges links with all other users of the euro,