Mario Draghi (2017)

On 4 May 2017, the President of the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe, Pat Cox, presented the Foundation’s Gold Medal to Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank. The Foundation thus wishes to recognise a major European personality who, at the head of its institution and with vision and pragmatism, has worked to preserve and develop the achievements of European integration in a particularly difficult period. President Draghi visited the Foundation and its archives before the medal ceremony.

• Invitation card
• Press release (in French only)
• Biographical note of the winner (in French only)

he presentation of the Gold Medal was the subject of media coverage. You can access it by clicking here.

A packed room, the more than 500 people gathered on the campus of the University of Lausanne gave a magnificent welcome to President Draghi. The ceremony began with the European anthem played by the flute and piano duo, whose musical interludes adorned the entire ceremony.

After messages from Nouria Hernandez, Rector of the University of Lausanne, Grégoire Junod, Syndic of Lausanne, Pierre-Yves Maillard, President of the State Council of the Canton of Vaud, and Thomas J. Jordan, President of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, the President of the Foundation delivered his laudatio which develops the reasons for the choice of the winner. After the award of the Medal, Mario Draghi spoke at a conference offering a broad role for the “Monnet method” and highlighting its historical and current importance, and the musicians of the flute and piano duo, whose pieces were performed during the ceremony, were David Cusin and Joëlle Rapin.