Werner, Pierre

▪ 2003

      Luxembourgian politician (b. Dec. 29, 1913, near Lille, France—d. June 24, 2002, Luxembourg), was hailed as the “father of the euro”; he used his position as prime minister of Luxembourg from 1959 to 1974 and again from 1979 to 1984 to lead the campaign for a single European currency, which he dubbed the “euror” and first publicly advocated in 1960. In 1970 he was chairman of the European Economic Community committee that presented the Werner Report, an official blueprint for a monetary union of the EEC's six members. A single monetary system finally took effect in 11 of the 15 members of the European Union in 1999, and a new currency, the euro, was introduced to the general public in 12 member states in January 2002. Werner, who was a member of the centre-right Christian Social People's Party, also built Luxembourg into one of Europe's most successful financial centres.

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