The President of the European Parliament (EP) Pat Cox has been awarded the prestigious Charlemagne Prize, presented annually to personalities who have been particularly active in the promotion of European integration. The motivation for the award recalls Cox’s “exceptional merits in the enlargement and democratisation of the Union”. During the prize-giving ceremony, held in the Town Hall of Aachen, in Germany, on 20 May, the outgoing President of the EP made an appeal on behalf of the Parliament to European heads of State and of Government, urging them to “proclaim the new Constitution as soon as possible”. During the ceremony, the chairman of the European Convention Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (himself awarded the Charlemagne Prize in the past) recalled that “Europe must pass from words to action, and equip itself with a Constitution: a Constitution that is not cheap, but fine, simple and strong”. In March this year, Pope John Paul II received an extraordinary Charlemagne prize in the Vatican for his dedication to the values of Europe.
