Transcription of the Interview with Romano Prodi, President of the Italian Council from 1996 to 1998 and 2006 to 2008 and President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004, carried out by the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE) on 15 October 2012 in Bologna. The interview was conducted by Renaud Dehousse, Professor and holder of the Jean Monnet Chair in European Union Law and Political Science at Sciences Po Paris and Director of the European Studies Centre, and particularly focuses on the following aspects of Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa’s life: his personality, his stature as a great public servant and his work as Italian Minister for the Economy and Finance from 2006 to 2008.