Past events

The economic crisis caused by Covid-19 is on course to become more serious than the 2008 financial crisis. Eurozone member states face several challenges in order to stabilize the economy, not least the short-term financial aid required during the shutdown and the subsequent support needed to get the economy back on its feet.

The Eurozone has little room for manoeuvre with the limitations of monetary policy and high levels of national debt. It’s crucial to ensure that added value is created by policy at a European level, with a robust infrastructure to ensure no member state is left behind.

In the first of our series of Policy Research Live online debates, EconPol Europe welcomed our speaker Clemens Fuest (ifo) and network member Antonia Díaz (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) to discuss the policy options available for the Eurozone and asked: is a European Recovery Fund an effective policy measure to deal with Covid-19 consequences?

Recent proposals of the OECD and the EU have taken a tougher stance on aggressive tax planning by multinationals. The dependence on physical presence for the establishment of a taxable nexus, which is a main feature of the existing tax framework, poses a great challenge for the taxation of cross-border transactions of, but not only, digital businesses. This EconPol Europe Lab Session will discuss the opportunities and risks of recent policy initiatives such as the European Commission’s Digital Services Tax proposals. Can these proposals deliver what they promise – do they close the current loopholes in the tax system? What are the costs to competition and economic welfare in general and can such proposals find support amongst all member states?

This invitation-only dinner presents the 19th edition of the European Economic Advisory Group (EEAG) report on the European Economy. Experts from EconPol Europe and the EEAG will present the report to members of the European Parliament and provide expert insight and analysis of its findings and proposals.

This event is strictly by invitation only. For further information contact Juliet Shaw at shaw@econpol.eu

When the current US administration took office, the current account surplus of China increasingly became a focus of the political debate. While the trade dispute between the governments of the US and China naturally focusd on the trade balance between these two economies, our breakfast discussion examined the development of the current account balance between China, the Euro Area and the individual member states. The Euro Area deficit in trade with goods towards China reached its maximum in 2016 and has declined slightly since. Germany has even been recording a trade surplus since 2011. We discussed some potential drivers of the trade balance, such as the real effective exchange rates, the development of domestic demand or the fiscal stance with Members of the European Parliament. Finally, we asked whether excessive imbalances exist and, if government action is needed to tackle them.