Past events

The convergence of big data, artificial intelligence and extreme automation has proved highly disruptive to labor markets not just in Europe, but around the world. Add to this shifting trade patterns, with globalization giving way to regionalization and supply chains in turmoil, while entire industries are being upended through the efforts to decarbonize economies and adapt to climate change, and the need to hone new skills becomes clearly unavoidable. But which skills exactly will be required? What will future labor markets even look like? And what kind of reforms to education and training systems can ease the creation and adoption of such skills?

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The European Union’s recovery plan has been adopted in response to the coronavirus crisis. It is a game changer in terms of European economic policy integration: NextGenerationEU is larger than any other stimulus package passed by the EU in previous crises. Together with the EU’s long-term budget a total of EUR 1.8 trillion will be spent to boost and modernize Europe’s economy with major priorities set in the areas of digitalization and climate change. The recovery package will also be financed by commonly issued debt. Finding the right balance between expansionary fiscal policy and budgetary discipline will be a key challenge in the upcoming years.

In order to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, most G20 member countries have committed to fiscal stimulus packages. While deficits in the European Union are about 7 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) and a large share of it reflects automatic stabilizers, the United States passed two fiscal stimulus packages and authorized additional aid that amounts to approximately 5 trillion Dollars. Fiscal deficits are estimated to be around 18 percentage points of GDP in 2020 and 2021. Even though the EU-wide fiscal stimulus plan that included borrowing 750 billion Euros (892 billion dollars) from public markets is unprecedented, the money might not be available to member states before the second half of 2021. Critics argue that this is too little too late and that measures are not targeted enough to boost consumption. On the other hand, there are voices reminding that ‘the bigger they are the harder they fall’: the enormous US relief package could lead to a spike in inflation and threaten long-term financial stability.

What are the options and scenarios for dealing with public debt in the post-Covid euro area? This question will be at the heart of our digital seminar, jointly organized by ZEW Mannheim and EconPol Europe. Our debate will address debt sustainability, risks to ECB independence, the potential of debt restructuring operations and debt cancellation, and the capacity of growth strategies to alleviate sustainability problems.

The event will take place as a Webex webinar and is open to the public. It comprises short presentations by the speakers and concludes with a general Q&A session. Friedrich Heinemann from ZEW will moderate the event.

The webinar is a joint event of ZEW Mannheim and EconPol Europe in collaboration with the Brigitte Strube Stiftung.

The European Fiscal Board (EFB) recently released its fourth annual report, assessing the implementation of the EU fiscal framework in 2019. The report provides new evidence that the EU fiscal framework falls short of its aims and should be reformed without delay. The reforms become even more urgent against the backdrop of the ongoing pandemic. The Covid-19 crisis has exposed long-standing gaps in EMU’s architecture. How the EU’s fiscal architecture might look after the Covid-19 shock will be at the heart of our digital seminar jointly organized by ZEW Mannheim and EconPol Europe.