Much that seemed utopian 50 years ago, when the Treaties of Rome were signed, is reality today. Allianz has evolved just as Europe has, and is committed to the project of Europe.
Allianz Group
Munich / Brussels, Mar 23, 2007
Today, many of the things that the European founders could only dream of 50 years ago have become reality
Fifty years ago, on March 25, 1957, six heads of state signed the Treaties of Rome, laying the cornerstone for today’s European Union.
Much that seemed utopian back then is reality today: "The economic unification of Europe is already a reality in areas that are important to our lives – such as coal and steel – and we hope that it will gradually extend into other areas until we have created a single European market, with a single currency and freedom of movement for goods and people," Italian Prime Minister Alcide de Gasperi had already said five years earlier, in his acceptance speech for the International Charlemagne Prize in 1952.
Diekmann: "We want to contribute toward our continent being a pioneer"
A European company
Over the past fifty years, Allianz also has evolved, from a German insurance company to an international financial service provider with expertise in insurance, banking and asset management – and it has profited along the way from the advance of European unification. "As the domestic market has broadened, we have been able to offer our roughly 45 million European clients new solutions – such as pan-European pension funds for international company retirement plans," said CEO Michael Diekmann.
As the first company listed on the DJ EuroStoxx index to adopt the new legal form of the European company (Societas Europaea), Allianz has declared its confidence in Europe as its home market.
New challenges
Yet the company also sees room for improvement in the EU. Said Diekmann: "We hope for courageous, faster decisions with an eye to customer-focused consumer protection, as well as additional steps in the direction of a European financial supervisory authority."
Conversely, Diekmann also sees a duty for the Allianz Group: "We want to contribute toward making our continent a pioneer in solving the challenges of the future, like the graying of the population, global warming, equal opportunity, education and innovation."
Commitment to Europe
That’s one reason why the Allianz Cultural Foundation's "Allianz Lectures – Let's talk about Europe" series promotes public debate about the future of Europe. In the European Financial Services Round Table, Michael Diekmann works with other CEOs to expand the domestic market for financial services. With the Lisbon Monitor, Allianz Dresdner Economic Research continuously analyzes the extent to which the EU is achieving its economic policy goals.
And jointly with the WWF and other partners, the company works toward systematic protection of the climate, and supports the ambitious climate goals announced by the German Presidency of the EU Council: "We think unilateral targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in EU are necessary," said board member Clem Booth. "The proposed targets are essential to the credibility of the EU's response to climate change and should not be weakened."
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