Former Luxembourg prime minister Mr Pierre Werner, one of the first advocates of European monetary union, died yesterday, six months after his dream of a euro currency was realised.

Mr Werner (88) died after a long illness, the Grand Duchy's press and information department said.

"He was very proud. He considered that one of his life's works had been realised," a spokesman said of Mr Werner's reaction to the introduction of euro notes and coins in January.

Born in Lille, France, on December 29th, 1913 and educated as a lawyer, Mr Werner's experience of war and its damaging economic aftermath made him a staunch supporter of a European currency. "There was a historical need for European countries to start a currency union which still exists. It is simply to put an end to the periodic world wars which started in Europe," Mr Werner said in 1998.

He first advocated a European currency, which he called the "euror", in a speech in Strasbourg in 1960. A decade later, the first official blueprint for monetary union, known as the "Werner Plan", was presented. It was endorsed by European Union leaders on March 22nd, 1971.

The plan called on the bloc to achieve full monetary union by 1980 but was knocked off track by the oil crisis in the 1970s. - (Reuters)