Award of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen to the President of the United States of America, William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton
I. The completion and consolidation of the expanded European Union, the preservation of peace and security, as well as a peaceful and constructive participation in world politics are based on the community of Europe and the United States of
America.
II. After the United States of America had intervened in the two major world conflicts in the first half of the 20th century, decisively influencing the outcome of both wars, they formed the basis for the reconstruction and deepening of democracy in Europe. After the East-West conflict arose, the countries of Western Europe, which had been victims of National Socialist aggression, and war-torn Germany, transformed themselves from needy recipients of aid to cooperative partners in security policy. The NATO Treaty of 1949 formalised this expectation and at the same time honoured it with a promise of support from the United States. The aim of the United States of America was to re-establish the Europeans' self-confidence in their own strength and in their own political future. George Marshall (Charlemagne Prize winner in 1959) has become a symbolic figure in the past century for the values around which the United States has rendered outstanding services in Europe. The USA supported Western Europe in the processes of political, military and economic unification, particularly in the founding of the European Economic Community. Western Europe became economically significant and a decisive player in world politics.
America provided sustained support for German reunification, particularly through political persuasion vis-à-vis the Soviet Union and the other world powers, as well as by guaranteeing that Germany would respect the borders in Europe and interactively promote the security treaties. America played a decisive role in ensuring that the so-called ‘Two Plus Four’ negotiations between the two German states of the time and the four former victorious occupying powers of the Second World War could be carried out swiftly.
The roots and the strength of the close ties between Europe and the USA lie in the agreement on the convictions of human dignity, freedom, justice and an open, democratic society. In many parts of the world, the example set by America and Europe encourages people to realise their own culture and way of life in a community of democracy and freedom.
III. The International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen is awarded in the year 2000 to the American President Bill Clinton for his special personal achievements in the cooperation with the European states, for the preservation of peace, freedom, democracy and human rights in Europe, as well as for his support in the expansion of the European Union.
President Bill Clinton is also honoured for his courageous intervention – including the use of military means – to uphold rules and ethical standards and the rule of law. Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo vividly demonstrate that the European Union is also insufficiently capable of acting collectively, at least not without American participation. He has done as much for the reconciliation between Greece and Turkey as he has for a lasting future solution to the conflicts in Cyprus and Northern Ireland.
The prospect of a final peace treaty in the Middle East, for which he has done so much over all these years, is Clinton's personal achievement.
The prize is also thanks from the Europeans, particularly the German people, to the American people for building democracy, freedom and prosperity after 1945, for the partnership in NATO, for the help in shaping the European Union, for a stable Mediterranean policy, for the lasting support in the process of reunification and with regard to the pacification of warring conflicts between European peoples, cultures and religious communities.
The International Charlemagne Prize for the year 2000 also honours the positive pro-European commitment of several American presidents, secretaries of state and politicians.
Bill Clinton demonstrated partnership in Europe. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, his policy towards a still-shaky and vulnerable Russia helped to stabilise the domestic political situation there to some extent. In doing so, he helped to avoid possible conflicts between the peoples of the former Soviet Union, but also between the Russians and neighbouring European states.
Today, the United States and Europe, in an alliance of free nations, bear a special responsibility for a new world order. Winston Churchill (Charlemagne Prize winner 1955) once said: ‘The price of greatness is responsibility.’ We know how great the burden of responsibility is that the USA
shares in Europe.
IV. Bill Clinton was born on 19 August 1946 in Hope, Arkansas. He was Attorney General of Arkansas and later became Governor of that state. On 20 January 1993 he was sworn in as the 42nd President of the United States of America. His indisputable achievements in the fields of foreign and economic policy, as well as his domestic and social policies, contributed to his being confirmed for a second term as President of the United States of America in January 1997.
Bill Clinton has been married to Hillary, née Rodham, since 1975. The couple have a daughter, Chelsea.
V. In awarding the prize to the President of the United States of America, the Board of Directors of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen wishes to honour a prize winner who, in difficult and changing political times, has proved to be the guarantor of the American-European community of values. In this, he stands for the entire American people.
The impressive history of the global political responsibility of the United States of America in the 20th century also justifies the hope for a corresponding dynamic for the beginning of the 21st century.
