Former ECB chief Mario Dragi wins Charlemagne Prize

Laschet added, in a sombre opening speech: "If Europe is not competitive economically it will not, in the long-term, have the financial basis, the technological basis, the industrial basis to guarantee its security."

Draghi -- who was widely credited with saving the euro from collapse after promising in 2012 to do "whatever it takes" to shore up the currency amid a eurozone debt crisis -- has since urged Europe to deepen economic integration to better compete with the United States and China.

Draghi, a former Italian prime minister, delivered 383 recommendations in his landmark 2024 EU competitiveness report, urging common regulation of capital markets and less red tape for business overall.

Europe is under increasing pressure to boost its economy, as anti-establishment parties score election wins across the continent and Russia and the United States have turned increasingly hostile.

"This decision comes at a time when Europe has perhaps never had as many enemies as it does now, both internal and external," Draghi said in a short acceptance speech transmitted by video.

"We have to become stronger, stronger militarily, stronger economically and stronger politically," he added.

Named after the Frankish ruler Charlemagne, the first to unify much of western Europe after the fall of the western Roman Empire, the prize is awarded by a 17-strong committee mostly made up of people linked to Aachen, Charlemagne's capital.

Previous winners of the prize include Pope Francis, Ukranian leader Volodymr Zelensky along with the Ukranian people, as well as French president Emmanuel Macron and former Czech president and anti-communist dissident Vaclav Havel.