SPEAKER: Henning Christophersen

A former vice-president of the European Commission, with responsibility for the economic and financial affairs of the Union, Henning Christophersen is one of Denmark's best known and most respected politicians having held the posts of Foreign Minister, Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.

A Member of the Board of the 2nd largest bank in Scandinavia - Danske Bank and he is
an advisor in European Financial Services Action Plan.

An economics graduate of Copenhagen University, he was chief adviser to Denmark's Chamber of small and medium size companies, prior to entering parliament as a liberal in 1971.

While a vice-president of the Commission he was responsible for the European Monetary Union (EMU) and the early consultations and strategic planning for the proposed single European Currency (ECU).

Since 1989 he has been the EU's representative in a number of supranational organisations, including the OECD, IMF, G7, EBRD and the EIB. He is a member of the Danish Council for the European Policy and recently retired as chairman of CMO Holding (established by Unibank).

His topics include:

   How to improve Europe's competitiveness
   The future economic propects for Europe
   The financial and budgetary resources of the EU
   Implications of EFTA