And the Europeans of the Year are

Date:25/09/03

THIS year's EV50, the most eagerly awaited honours list in the EU, can finally be announced.

European Voice and a distinguished panel - including three former prime ministers - have drawn up the names of the 50 people who, in their view, have most influenced Europe's agenda over the past 12 months.

The full list appears below.

The European of the Year, plus ten category winners will be chosen by European Voice readers - voting online or through a ballot form printed in the newspaper - to receive a special trophy. Each will also collect a cheque to donate to a charity of their choice.

Voting could not be simpler: just choose one person or organization from each of the ten categories - Commissioner of the Year, MEP, Statesman, Diplomat, Visionary, Campaigner, Business Leader, Journalist, Achiever and Non-EU Citizen, not forgetting the overall European of the Year. The closing date for both online and ballot votes is Friday, 14 November.

The winners of the ten categories, as well as the overall European of the Year, will be revealed during a gala dinner, to be held on Tuesday, 2 December at Brussels' Palais d'Egmont.

To commemorate EV50 2003, European Voice will produce a souvenir full-colour magazine, Presenting the EV50, which will be distributed together with the newspaper to our readership. The magazine will be published to coincide with the gala evening in December.

Presenting the EV50 will feature photographs of all the 50 top Europeans together with personal profiles and the reasons they were chosen by the panel.

This is the third time that European Voice has hosted these prestigious awards and, once again, we are delighted that they are officially supported by Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.

Commissioner of the Year

Pascal Lamy: for championing access to medicines for poor countries and for tactfully steering transatlantic trade relations through choppy waters

Michel Barnier: for his ambitious proposals on developing a European defence policy in the Convention on the future of Europe

Franz Fischler: for finally convincing member states to reform the Common Agricultural Policy

António Vitorino: for his tireless efforts to develop a European asylum and immigration policy and for his contribution to the Convention on the future of Europe

Margot Wallström: for her perseverance in pursuing a thorough reform of EU chemicals policy despite widespread opposition from industry

MEP of the Year

Iñigo Méndez De Vigo/Klaus Hänsch: for concerted action in the Convention's praesidium to boost the role of the European Parliament in the Europe of the future

Philippe Morillon: for his landmark proposals on a European security and defence architecture

Jo Leinen: for his work on a statute for European parties, a prerequisite for developing transnational political parties

Alain Lamassoure: for his report on the separation of powers between the EU and member states, which inspired the Convention's debate on the issue

Elmar Brok: for his influence on the Convention, as head of the largest transnational political group in the forum, the European People's Party

Statesman of the Year

Jacques Chirac, president of France: for leading the international coalition against the war in Iraq

Tony Blair, prime minister of the UK: for having the courage of his convictions on Iraq

Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg: for leading the defence of small member states in the future of Europe debate

Gianfranco Fini, deputy prime minister of Italy: for his contribution to reconciling divergent interests and achieving a compromise in the Convention

Danuta Hübner, Polish Europe minister: for her role in convincing the Poles to vote "Yes" to EU membership

Diplomat of the Year

Javier Solana, EU high representative for foreign affairs: for preparing the ground for the Union's envisaged foreign affairs minister

Günter Burghardt, head of the European Commission delegation to Washington: for his tenacity in repairing EU-US relations during and after the Iraq crisis

Miguel Angel Moratinos, EU's former Middle East envoy: for his struggle to keep the Middle East peace process on the world agenda

George Papandreou, Greek foreign minister: for successfully advocating Turkey's rapprochement with the EU, putting an end to decades of Greek opposition to Ankara's membership bid

Hans Blix, chief UN weapons inspector: for maintaining his independence during the war of words ahead of the Iraq war

Visionary of the Year

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, chairman of the Convention on the future of Europe: for rallying the members of the Convention behind a common project, against all odds

Andrew Duff, British Liberal Democrat MEP: for having drafted a six-page citizen-friendly European constitution

Gérard Mortier, former director of the Salzburg Festival (and future general director of the Garnier Opera in Paris): for his enthusiastic promotion of a common European cultural spirit

Jürgen Habermas, German philosopher: for mobilizing the European intelligentsia in support of a strong EU voice in the world

Jacques Derrida, French philosopher: for speaking up for coherent EU action globally

Campaigner of the Year

Stephen Jakobi, director of Fair Trials Abroad: for defending EU victims of unfair judicial proceedings across the world

Pat Cox, European Parliament president: for his tireless efforts to convince candidate countries to vote for EU membership

Peter Eigen, founder and chairman of Transparency International: for taking multinationals to task and promoting openness and accountability in international trade

George Michael, singer and songwriter: for mobilizing European musicians against the war in Iraq

Jean-Michel Piedagnel, director of Médecins Sans Frontières: for perseverance in helping those in need in Afghanistan and Iraq - after the cameras and other aid agencies had departed

Business Leader of the Year

Michael O'Leary, chief executive of budget airline Ryanair: for helping Europeans meet their neighbours and fighting vested interests in the industry

Jürgen Strube, president of employers' association UNICE: for steady defence of the Lisbon agenda and for heading the Transatlantic Business Dialogue through difficult times

Lord Browne, CEO of British Petroleum: for his commitment to introduce transparency over payments to poor countries' governments, to clamp down on corruption

Etienne Davignon, president of CSR Europe: for promoting Corporate Social Responsibility

Hans-Olov Olsson, Volvo president and chief executive: for his support of Swedish euro membership

Journalist of the Year

Robert Fisk, The Independent, UK: for objective coverage of the Iraq war as an "un-embedded" journalist

Christine Ockrent, France 3: for forcing Europe onto French antennae

Feruccio de Bortoli, former editor of Corriere della Sera, Italy: for standing up uncompromisingly for journalistic independence, and resigning his job for his principles

Michael Stabenow, EU correspondent for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany: for high-quality coverage

Paul Goossens, head of EU desk for news agency Belga, Belgium: for his tireless efforts to spread the future of Europe debate to the larger public

Achiever of the Year

Silvio Berlusconi, Italian premier: for surviving across-the-board criticism during his country's stormy EU presidency

Jean-Claude Trichet, for becoming president of the European Central Bank, after clearing his name of alleged wrongdoing

Major-General Pierre Maral, France: for leading the EU's historic first peacekeeping mission, Operation Concordia in Macedonia

Alojz Peterle, former prime minister of Slovenia: for being the first candidate countries' official to penetrate into the EU's corridors of power as a member of the Convention's praesidium

Eddie Fenech Adami, prime minister of Malta: for winning a cliffhanger vote for EU membership and avoiding the prospect of the smallest candidate blocking enlargement

Non-EU Citizen of the Year

Kofi Annan, UN secretary-general: for defending the United Nations with dignity during the Iraq crisis

Zoran Djindjic, prime minister of Serbia: for struggling to make his country fit for Europe and paying with his life for it

Donald Rumsfeld, US defense secretary: for having provoked Europeans to reflect on the EU's internal divisions, with his infamous characterization of a Europe split between "old" and "new"

Grigori Yavlinski, chief of the liberal movement Jabloko in Russia: for his efforts to democratize and modernize Russian society

Robert Zoellick, US trade representative: for preserving good trade relations with the EU

European of the year

Any of those nominated in the categories above

Shortlist of fifty Europeans who, in the view of a distinguished panel, have most influenced Europe's agenda over the past 12 months. The European of the Year, plus ten category winners will be announced on 2 December 2003.