Marianne Backes, Director of the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE), welcomes the participants to the conference ‘Pierre Werner, a vision for Europe: his approach, action and legacy’. Martine Hansen, Luxembourg Minister for Higher Education and Research, gives the opening address. Susana Muñoz, Head of the European Integration Studies Department at the CVCE, then introduces the theme of the conference.

Prof. Hans Tietmeyer, Honorary President of the Bundesbank and former member of the Werner Committee, gives an opening lecture entitled Der Werner Bericht als Wegweiser für die Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion.

At the international conference ‘Pierre Werner, a vision for Europe: his approach, action and legacy’, the second working session entitled ‘Pierre Werner, a life dedicated to the European ideal’ is chaired by Professor René Leboutte, Holder of the ad personam Jean Monnet Chair in European Integration History at the University of Luxembourg and Chairman of the CVCE’s Committee of Experts. The session features the following contributions: Dr Elena Danescu, Researcher at the CVCE: Pierre Werner: l’homme et son œuvre; Dr Armand Clesse, Director of the Luxembourg Institute for European and International Studies: De l’Europe de Pierre Werner à l’Europe d’aujourd’hui: réalisations et échecs; Dr Jan-Willem Brouwer, Head of Research at the Centre for Parliamentary History in Nijmegen: Les Pays-Bas et Pierre Werner, 1954–1984; Prof. Xu Mingqi, President of the Shanghai Institute for European Studies, Director of the Centre for European Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences: Pierre Werner — a long-run vision for Europe; Dr Frédéric Clavert, Research Engineer at LabEx EHNE, Paris-Sorbonne University: L’exemple d’une analyse computationnelle des archives familiales Pierre Werner.

At the international conference ‘Pierre Werner, a vision for Europe: his approach, action and legacy’, the third working session entitled ‘The Werner Report — ideas, initiatives and challenges for a Europe built through currency’ is chaired by Prof. Ivo Maes, Holder of the Robert Triffin Chair at the Institute of European Studies of the Université catholique de Louvain and Senior Adviser for Historical Studies in the Research Department at the National Bank of Belgium. The session features the following contributions: Prof. Christian Ghymers, ICHEC Brussels Management School, Member of the Triffin International Foundation: Une relecture du Plan Werner par rapport à ses antécédents et ses successeurs; Prof. Andreas Wilkens, University of Lorraine: L’Allemagne fédérale et le Plan Werner; Dr Marc Dierickx, Senior Researcher, Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences: The Dutch contribution to the Werner Plan; Dr Paolo Tedeschi, Researcher in the Department of Economics, Management and Statistics at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Visiting Researcher at the CVCE: Le Rapport Werner et les milieux industriels italiens; Prof. Marie-Claude Esposito, University of the New Sorbonne, Director of ICEE — Integration and Cooperation in the European Area: Le plan Werner, un enjeu dans la négociation pour l’adhésion du Royaume-Uni à la Communauté économique européenne?

At the international conference ‘Pierre Werner, a vision for Europe: his approach, action and legacy’, the fourth working session entitled ‘From the Werner Report to the Delors Report: progress towards Economic and Monetary Union’ is chaired by Dr Piet Clement, Head of Information and Collaboration at the Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland. The session features the following contributions: Dr Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol, Post-doctoral Research Associate, Department of Economic and Social History, University of Glasgow, Adam Smith Business School, Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Fellow: Entre rejet et réutilisation: le plan Werner et le SME, 1974–1979; Dr Hanspeter Scheller, Honorary Secretary General of the Bank for International Settlements, the European Monetary Institute and the European Central Bank: The Werner and the Delors Reports – one or two approaches to EMU; Prof. Sylvain Schirmann, Holder of the Jean Monnet Chair and Director of the Institute of Political Studies at the University of Strasbourg: Georges Pompidou et les questions monétaires européennes.

At the international conference ‘Pierre Werner, a vision for Europe: his approach, action and legacy’, the fifth working session entitled Challenges and prospects for Economic and Monetary Union is chaired by Prof. Christian Wolff, Director of the Luxembourg School of Finance, University of Luxembourg. The session features the following contributions: Dr Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (2005–2012), Visiting Scholar at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs: The Werner Plan after the euro; Prof. Alfred Steinherr, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Academic Director of Sacred Heart University Luxembourg, Honorary Chief Economist of the European Investment Bank: Is Germany the main beneficiary of the euro?; Sir Brian Unwin, Honorary President of the European Investment Bank: The European Investment Bank and the euro; Prof. David Howarth, University of Luxembourg: Du Plan Triffin, d’un Fonds de réserve européen et du Comité Werner à la création du FESF et du MES; Prof. Blanche Sousi, Lyon 3 University, Holder of the ad personam Jean Monnet Chair in European Banking and Monetary Law: Activité et contrôle des établissements.

Prof. Philippe Maystadt, Belgian Minister of State and Honorary President of the European Investment Bank, gives the closing lecture entitled Comment compléter l’UEM dans l’esprit de Pierre Werner?.

Prof. Bernard Snoy from the Université catholique de Louvain, President of the European League for Economic Cooperation and Chairman of the Triffin International Foundation, draws conclusions from the conference ‘Pierre Werner, a vision for Europe: his approach, action and legacy’.

Charles Ruppert, Chairman of the Pierre Werner Foundation, Honorary Vice-President of the Council of State and former Chairman of the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association, gives a concluding address at the conference ‘Pierre Werner, a vision for Europe: his approach, action and legacy’.

The international conference ‘Pierre Werner, a vision for Europe: his approach, action and legacy’ comes to a close on 28 November 2013 with a lunch debate chaired by Luxembourg Finance Minister Luc Frieden (2009–2013), who gives a presentation entitled ‘Financial services in a changing world’.