Aachen, Germany
as of April 22, 2000
http://194.245.36.141/karlspreis2000/begruendung.htm
The Foundation
Foundation of the Directorate of the Association for
the Granting of the International Charlemagne Award of Aachen to the
President of the
United States of AmericanWilliam Jefferson Clinton
I.
The completion and the consolidation of the extended European Union, the
maintenance of peace and security, as well as a peaceful and constructive
part in
world politics are based on the community of Europe and the United States
of America.
II.
After the United States of American intervened to determine the outcome of
the two great world conflicts in the first half of the twentieth century,
it
built a foundation for reconstruction and the increase of democracy in
Europe.
After the appearance of the East-West conflict, war-torn Germany and the
countries of western Europe who had been victims of National Socialist
aggression
turned from needy welfare recipients into capable partners in cooperation
for security
politics. The NATO treaty of 1949 formalized this expectation and, at the
same time,
honored it with a promise of assistance from the USA.
It was the goal of the United States of American to re-establish the
self-confidence of the Europeans in their own political future and in
their own power. In
the last century, George Marshall (Charlemagne Award Winner 1959) became a
symbolic figure for the values deserved well of the United States in
Europe. The
USA supported western Europe in the process of political, military and
economic
unification, in particularly in the founding of the European economic
community.
Western Europe became economically significant and mutually decisive in
world politics.
American consistently supported Germany in the reunification, mainly
through work in political conviction in regards to the Soviet Union and
the other
world powers as well as through the guarantee that Germany would respect
the
boundaries in Europe and would promote the integration of the security
treaty.
America contributed decisively so the so-called "Two plus Four"
negotiations could
be wrapped up between the two separate German states of the time and the
four former
victor and occupation forces of the Second World War.
The roots and the power of the close association between Europe and
the USA lie in the agreement in the convictions of human dignity, freedom,
justice
and open democratic society. The example given by America and Europe spurs
people in many parts of the world to implement their own culture and form
of life
into a common being with democracy and freedom.
III.
The International Charlemagne Award at Aachen will be awarded in the year
2000 to American President Bill Clinton for his special personal merits in
the
cooperation with the European states, for maintaining peace, freedom,
democracy and
human rights in Europe as well as for his support in the expansion of the
European Union.
Additionally, President Bill Clinton will be commended for his
courageous intervention - also while military were deployed, for keeping
to the rules
and ethical standards as well as his mastery of justice. Bosnia-
Herzegovina
and Kosovo visibly demonstrated that the European Union is not
sufficiently capable
of dealing collectively, in any case, not with American participation. He
has done
just as much for the reconciliation between Greece and Turkey has he has
for an
enduring future solution to the Cypress and North Ireland conflicts.
The outlook for a final peace treaty in the Near East, for which he
has done so much all these years, is Clinton's personal gain.
The Award is also a thank you from the Europeans, the German people in
particular, to the American people for the construction of democracy,
freedom and
prosperity after 1945, for partnership in NATO, for the help in forming
the European
Union, for a stable Mediterranean Sea politic, for the consistent support
in the
reunification process and regarding the settlement of martial conflicts
between European
peoples, cultures and religious congregations.
The International Charlemagne Award of the year 2000 also honors the
positive pro-European involvement of several American presidents,
secretaries of
state and politicians.
Bill Clinton has demonstrated partnership in Europe.
After the fall of the Wall, he contributed to a still wavering,
endangered Russia with his politics to stabilize the local interior
political
situation to some degree. By doing that, he helped to avoid potential
disputes not only
between the peoples of the former Soviet Union, but also between Russia
and it
neighboring European states.
Americans and Europeans today, in an alliance of free people, bear
special responsibility for a new world order. Winston Churchill,
(Charlemagne
Award winner 1955) once said, An award of this size is called
responsibility." We
know how great the burden of responsibility is that the USA bears together
in
Europe.
IV.
Bill Clinton was born August 19, 1946 in Hope, Arkansas. He was Secretary
of Justice of Arkansas, later governor. On January 20, 1993, he took
office as the
42nd President of the United States of America. His indisputable success
in foreign and
economic politics, and also his social and interior politics, contributed
to his
being re-elected for a second term of office as President of the United
States
in 1997.
Bill Clinton has been married with Hillary, nee Rodham, since 1975. The
couple has one daughter, Chelsea.
V.
The Directorate for the Bestowal of the International Charlemagne Award in
Aachen, in honoring the President of the United States of America, intends
to
honor an award winner who has proven himself in difficult and volatile
political
times as a guarantor of American-European community values. In that he is
representative of the American people as a whole.
The impressive history of the United States of America's
responsibility in world politics in the 20th century also gives reason to
hope for a
corresponding dynamic in the beginning 21st century.
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