European Book Prize
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Europe Book Prize seeks to promote European values, and to contribute to European citizens' better understanding of the European Union as a cultural entity. For its first edition, this award will constitute the final touch of the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome celebrations in 2007. The European Book Prize intends to reward the work that best conveys a vision of the Europe of tomorrow. This book must have been published in one of the 27 European Union (EU) member-states in the preceding year.
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Founders
The Europe Book Prize seeks to create a real craving for Europe The founders of the Europe Book Prize are (a) France ROQUE who is the director of Public Relations of the Nouvel Observateur, and co-founder of the Editions Saint-Simon, Publishing; (b) Luce PERROT who is the founder and President of the Lire la Politique foundation, and the organiser of the yearly Political Book Fair, as well as the Economics Book Fair and (c) François-Xavier PRIOLLAUD, an upper-level civil servant, also co-founder of the Editions Saint-Simon, Publishing. He teaches European Affairs at the Institute of Political Science, Sciences-Po Paris.
Europe Book Prize is organised by the association Esprit d'Europe.
Support Committee
The European Book Prize has a Support Committee which has the responsibility to guarantee the moral authority of the Prize. This committee is responsible for producing a short-list of candidate books and works while the final decision is made by a Jury. The president of the Support Committee also presides over the Jury. The supporting committee comprises distinguished personalities who has proven commitment to the construction of a unified Europe. The President of the Supporting Committee for 2007 was Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission. The eleven members of the Committee were: (a) Mr. Jean DANIEL, founding director of the Nouvel Observateur (France), (b) Etienne DAVIGNON, former Vice-President of the European Commission (Belgium), (c) Dimitris DIMITRIADIS, President of the Economic and Social Council of Europe (Greece), (d) Paavo Tapio LIPPONEN, Prime Minister of Finland, 1995 to 2003 (Finland), (e) Denis MAC SHANE, Minister of European Affairs, 2002 to 2005, Member of the House of Commons (UK), (f) Pierre MAUROY, former Prime Minister, Member of the Consulting Board of the city of Lille since 2001 (France), (g) Hans-Gert POTTERING, President of the European Parliament (Germany), (h) Jorge Sampaio, former President of the Republic of Portugal (Portugal), (i) Peter D. SUTHERLAND, President of the European Policy Center, Chairman of Goldman Sachs International, former European Commissioner, and former Director-General of the WTO and of the GATT (Ireland), (j) Walter VELTRONI , Mayor of Rome since 1996 (Italy) and (k) Vaira VIKE FREIBERGA, President of the Republic of Latvia from 1999 to July 2007.
First Europe Book Prize 2007
The first new Europe Book Prize was awarded to Belgium's caretaker prime minister Guy Verhofstadt for his short book 'United States of Europe'. The prize money is Euro 20 000. The prize was declared at the European Parliament in Brussels on 05 December 2007.
Originally written in Dutch, the book's title is De Verenigde Staten Van Europa. The short book is a summing up of the condition the EU 'idea' consequent to the 'No votes' on the European Constitution, in referendums held in 2005 in France and the Netherlands. In this book the author enunciates his case forcefully for a stronger federal approach to the economic and political challenges the EU member states will face in the future.
Swedish crime fiction writer Henning Mankell handed over the prize to the winner. While handing over the prize Mankell said that the jury was sensitive to the political courage showed by the current prime minister of Belgium. He added that in a Europe which has a lot of self doubt, which has a lot of questions about its own future, Guy Verhofstadt offered a clear proposal for the future. He gave reasons to believe in European constitution.
While receiving the reward Verhofstadt said, "When I wrote this book, I in fact meant it as a provocation against all those who didn't want the European Constitution. Fortunately, in the end a solution was found with the treaty, that was approved."
Short List
The Support Committee short-listed 14 books out of 55 which was then submitted to the Jury for final selection of the awardee. The shorted books are<ref>Le prix du livre europeen </ref> : (a) Werte, von Plato bis Pop alles, was uns verbindet, by Peter Prange (Germany) (b) Das Kosmopolitische Europa, by Ulrich Beck and Edgar Grande (Germany) (c) Wir Deutschen, by Matthias Matussek (Germany) (d) Les Etats-Unis d'Europe, by Guy Verhofstadt (Belgium) (e) Morta Nctopnr, by Janine Dragustinova (Bulgaria) (f) Mission Londres, by Alex Popov (Bulgaria) (g) Pensar en Europa, by Jorge Semprun (Spain) (h) Grandes imperios, pequenas naciones, by Josep M. Colomer (Spain) (i) Le coq et la perle, by Sylvie Goulard (France) (j) Le bonheur du voyage, by Philippe Herzog (France) (k) National thought in Europe : a cultural history, by Leerssen Joep (Netherland) (l) The culture of Europeans - from 1800 to the present, by Donald Sassoon (UK) (m) Why Europe will run the 21st century, by Mark Leonard (UK) (n) Europeerna, by Anika Strom Melin (Sweden)
