Luxembourg, 29/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - Philippe Maystadt, President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), has received the Golden Medal of European Merit, the top award of the Foundation of European Merit (Luxembourg). During the ceremony when the medal was awarded by Jacques Santer, former European Commission President and former Luxembourg Prime Minister, Mr Maystadt stressed that, in order to face the challenges awaiting the European Union, “it is not enough to formulate appropriate strategies. One must also have instruments and means allowing such strategies to be implemented”. The EIB plays and will continue to fully play its role in this context. If, however, the next EU financial perspectives do not provide “more important means than today for supporting research and trans-European networks as well as for the Union's external action, it will be known that the resolve to raise the challenges is missing. Europe, at the crossroad, will have made the wrong choice”.