The Europeans of the Year – 2007

European Voice is proud to announce the nominations for EV50, the Europeans of the Year 2007 awards.

A distinguished panel of leading opinion-formers including former prime ministers and presidents has identified the 50 people that it believes have most influenced the EU’s agenda in the past 12 months. EV50, now in its seventh year, is delighted to honour these people.

As it is not just politicians who shape European events, the list of EV50 nominees also includes actors, journalists, scientists and business people. The roster of names, presented on the following two pages, constitutes a diverse European elite. Each of the 50 has been nominated in one of nine categories: Commissioner, MEP, Statesman, Diplomat, Campaigner, Business Leader, Achiever, Journalist and Non-EU Citizen of the Year.

Now European Voice readers will choose - voting online (www.ev50.org) or through a ballot-form printed in the newspaper - the nine category winners and the overall European of the Year from among the 50 nominees. The closing date for voting is 12 November.

The winners will be announced at a black-tie gala dinner to be held on Tuesday 27 November at the Palais d’Egmont in Brussels. We are grateful to have as our patron Guy Verhofstadt, the prime minister of Belgium.

Each winner will receive a trophy, but each of the 50 nominees is a winner: each has been selected by the EV50 panel for the impact that she or he has made on the EU’s political, economic or social life and on its relations with the rest of the world. This year, the cheques handed with the awards will be donated to the UN Population Fund.

To honour the 50 nominees, European Voice will publish a magazine, ‘Presenting the EV50’, which will be distributed to our readers at the end of November. The magazine will present a profile of each nominee and the background to their nomination.

The EV50 2007 panel

• Carl Bildt

Foreign minister of Sweden

• Wilfried Martens

President of the European People’s Party and former prime minister of Belgium

• John Micklethwait

Editor-in-chief of The Economist

• Maria João Rodrigues

Professor, University of Lisbon

• George Vassiliou

Former president of Cyprus

• Paul Demaret

Rector of the College of Europe

• Helen Wallace

Centennial professor, European Institute, LondonSchool of Economics and Political Science

• Mario Monti

Chairman of the board of BRUEGEL, president of Bocconi University in Milan and former European commissioner

• Dana Spinant

Editor of European Voice

EV50 charity 2007

Since its inception in 2001, EV50 has donated more than €150,000 to charitable causes. This year’s donation will be made to UNFPA - the United Nations Population Fund.

• UNFPA is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

UNFPA - because everyone counts.

European Voice is proud to announce the nominations for EV50, the Europeans of the Year 2007 awards.

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