Who is Charlemagne Prize winner Mario Draghi?

"Draghi is likely mostly remembered as the head of the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank (ECB) who stabilized the eurozone during turbulent times; but he had many other career stops along the way. Draghi started out as a professor of economics in Italy. Later he worked at the World Bank and Goldman Sachs. Over the years, he served on the board of several Italian banks and companies."

"In the middle of all this turmoil, Draghi was selected to run the European Central Bank in 2011. By this time, the global financial crisis had turned into a Europen debt crisis. This led to austerity measures and bailouts in some eurozone countries, most notably Greece. Draghi tirelessly defended the single currency and became known for saying the ECB would do "whatever it takes" to stop the euro from failing."

"This was seen as a turning point in the eurozone crisis. In 2015, the bank started to buy large amounts of bonds to inject money into the economy"

Aachen symbolizes European unity through Charlemagne’s rule over a large western European empire. The Charlemagne Prize honors modern efforts toward European unity and will be awarded on May 14 to Mario Draghi. Draghi is known for leading the European Central Bank in Frankfurt and stabilizing the eurozone during turbulent times. He began as an economics professor in Italy, then worked at the World Bank and Goldman Sachs, and served on boards of Italian banks and companies. From 2006 to 2011 he governed the Bank of Italy as the US subprime mortgage problems escalated into a global crisis. In 2011 he became ECB president during a European debt crisis, defended the single currency, and became known for the pledge to do “whatever it takes.” In 2015 the ECB began buying large amounts of bonds to inject money into the economy.

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