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Former European Central Bank President and former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has been awarded the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen, as the EU struggles to remain relevant in a tougher global order.
Organizers announced the 2026 winner on Monday, citing Draghi's "historic services" to European integration and his renewed role in shaping the bloc's economic future. He will be formally awarded at a ceremony on May 14.
The timing of the award is deliberate. Europe risks becoming “a pawn in the game of other powers” if it cannot secure its sovereignty, the prize committee warned, adding that competitiveness and economic strength are essential for a sovereign Europe.
"Mario Draghi plays a key role in strengthening Europe's economy and his 2024 Draghi Report outlines the plans needed to ensure competitiveness, growth and stability in the European Union," she said.
Draghi’s report, which calls for a “fundamental change” in EU decision-making, sends a clear message: Europe can no longer rely on crisis management alone. “This new world is not kind to us,” Draghi warned last year. “It does not wait for slow, collective rituals.”
The award committee urged EU governments and the Commission to implement Draghi's recommendations "immediately", framing the report as a survival plan rather than another Brussels white paper.
The Charlemagne Prize honors individuals or institutions that have made an outstanding contribution to European unity, peace and integration. Recent winners include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian people, Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt and the Jewish communities in Europe, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Draghi was an inevitable candidate, ever since he vowed to do “whatever it takes” as ECB president at the height of the sovereign debt crisis in 2012. The promise is often attributed to ensuring the survival of the single currency.
A year after stepping down as ECB president in 2019, Draghi, 78, was appointed by President Sergio Mattarella to form a “government of national unity” following the collapse of Italy’s government led by Giuseppe Conte. His success in guiding Italy through the Covid-19 crisis and engineering an economic recovery was so remarkable that The Economist named Italy its “Country of the Year” for 2021, crediting Draghi’s leadership.
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