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ECB President Draghi Receives Global Citizen Award

On October 1, Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, was awarded the Atlantic Council’s 2015 Global Citizen Award. IMF head Christine Lagarde presented the award to Draghi at a ceremony in New York, and said he had “moved Europe in the direction of stability”.

Draghi was one of four prominent individuals recognized as having made exceptional and distinctive contributions to strengthening the transatlantic relationship.

In his speech, President Draghi spoke about the importance of the European Union to the global economy and stability. “The European Union and its monetary union are regional projects with global implications,” he said.

He also described the vitality and necessity of the continuous process of European integration: “European integration is by far the most advanced experiment in managing issues that cut across borders, through a combination of international and supranational arrangements. 65 years ago, the founders of the EU decided that we could only achieve results if we were united in facing common problems. At the time, the problem was war and the objective was peace. And it worked.”

Established as an EU institution in 1998, the European Central Bank defines and implements monetary policy for the euro area and carries out a number of other tasks, including banking supervision. Draghi has been at the helm of the European Central Bank since November 2011.

To read Dragui’s full speech, click here

Courtesy of the EU Delegation to the U.S.