Roy Jenkins (1920-2003)

Roy Jenkins (picture European Commission)

With the death of Roy Jenkins we have lost one of Britain’s greatest Europeans. As for so many of his generation, the experience of the Second World War left him convinced of the need to find a better way of handling relations between states. It led to a lifelong association with Federal Union, at one time as Vice-Chair.

Others have written of his work in UK politics but we in Federal Union remember him best as a brilliant president of the European Commission, the man whose political skills led to the agreement on European Monetary Union, and thence to the euro. He also successfully battled with the heads of government for the right for the EEC to be present at the G7 summits.

For his commitment to ensuring peace in Europe through the development of new political structures based on shared sovereignty he will long be remembered.

John Parry

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