Joint IES-VUB and EconPol Policy Forum on Future Perspectives for the EMU

The future of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is at the core of the reflection on the future of European integration. The debate about its architecture has accompanied the entire evolution of the EU and several proposals have been made in the past.

In December 2017 the European Commission presented its Roadmap for deepening the EMU, including concrete steps to be taken over the next 18 months, with the aim to enhance unity, efficiency and democratic accountability. Several contributions have enriched the debate in the past few months, in search of a common ground among different points of view.

This policy forum aims at an open, broad and deep discussion on the possible options for the future of the EMU, starting from the assessment of the existing proposals. We shall investigate the economic, social and political implications of the EMU, to envisage the changes which may be necessary to move forward, and to assess the political feasibility of the process.

The forum has three high level speakers, who can combine a solid academic perspective on international macroeconomics, with a very direct knowledge of the political context on the perspectives for the EMU, and relevant experience as policy makers.

László Andor has been European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion in the Barroso II administration, from 2010 to 2014. Previously, from 2005 to 2010, he was Member of the Board of Directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), representing the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary and Slovakia. He is Head of Department of Economic Policy at Corvinus University, Budapest; Senior Research Fellow at IMK, Hans Boeckler Stiftung; Senior Fellow at FEPS; Senior Fellow at the Hertie School of Governance, in Berlin; and Associate Professor at Sciences Po, Paris.

Clemens Fuest is President of the ifo Institute for Economic Research since 2016 and Professor of Economics at the University of Munich. From 2008 to 2013 he was been Research Director of the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation. Between 2013 and 2016 he served as President of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim and professor at the University of Mannheim. He is a member of the Council of Economic Advisors at the German Federal Ministry of Finance (chairman from 2007 – 2010), of the German Minimum Wage Commission and of the High Level Group on Own Resources of the EU. His research focuses on public economics and economic aspects of European integration.

Vesa Vihriälä is since March 2012 Managing Director of the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy, Etla. He holds a Doctor of Social Sciences (Economics) degree from the University of Helsinki. Before joining Etla, Vihriälä worked as Adviser to Olli Rehn, EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, as State Under-Secretary at the Finnish Prime Minister’s Office, as Managing Director of Pellervo Economic Research Institute, in various positions at the Bank of Finland and as Economist at the OECD’s Economics Department. Vihriälä has worked on a wide variety of policy issues related to financial crises, globalization, EU affairs and the Nordic economies.

The speakers have been directly involved in the debate on the future of the EMU, by contributing to three recent proposals:

https://cepr.org/sites/default/files/policy_insights/PolicyInsight91.pdf

https://www.politico.eu/article/opinion-blueprint-for-a-democratic-renewal-of-the-eurozone/

https://www.etla.fi/en/general/vihriala-market-discipline-and-liquidity-key-issues-in-the-emu-reform/