News Archive

A key issue for the completion of the Banking Union is the concentrated exposure of banks in many countries to their own sovereign. This paper by EconPol Europe network partner Daniel Gros, Director of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), examines the belief that banks should be allowed to buy large amounts of their own sovereign so that they can stabilise the market in a crisis. Read here why this is mistaken for two reasons.

Eight months ago, the UK Government notified its exit to the EU in accordance with Article 50 of the EU Treaty. Brexit is therefore officially initiated. One month later, the Heads of State and Government of the European Council adopted the guidelines for negotiations between the EU and the UK in accordance with Article 50 TEU. Negotiations between the EU27 and the UK on future political and economic relations have begun in July 2017 and have proven difficult since then. The two-stage structure of the negotiations foresees to substantially move forward these days. Read here what our EconPol Europe Network experts say.

The Founding Conference „The Euro – Which Way to Go?“addressed a unique networking occasion for 200 top economists and representatives of institutions and media, headed by German ifo Institute.

Economic growth in many euro area countries is fairly closely aligned, while unemployment figures tend to vary more, according to the latest calculations by the EconPol Europe research network. Based on closely aligned developments across EU states between 1999 and 2014, the authors from the Munich-based ifo Institute and Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies conclude that state transfers aimed at stabilising Europe’s economy across national borders would only have a very limited impact. For shocks impacting the Eurozone as a whole, such a system could even trigger effects that exacerbate the crisis. “The deeper integration of capital markets would be a more effective way of helping the system to cope with economic shocks,” said ifo President Clemens Fuest, one of the co-authors of the paper.

Accountability bonds revive market discipline in the Eurozone without endangering fiscal and financial stability - and they address the various concerns from difference sides. Clemens Fuest (ifo Institute) and Friedrich Heinemann (ZEW) have proposed the new type of bonds for overcoming the debt crisis in the Eurozone two years ago. In our new EconPol Policy Brief, the two EconPol network members revisit their concept of accountability bonds in the light of current developments, respond to criticism and explain why they are an innovative instrument that stand a real chance of building a consensus, now more than ever.