Conference Panels at the University of Luxembourg

The Conference

7-9 October 2020

The Werner Report, 50 Years On

EMU in Uncertain Times: Learning from the Past to Navigate the Future

Rethinking the EMU architecture fifty years later

The 50th anniversary of the Werner Report, after 20 years of monetary union – with the eurodebt and the COVID-19 crises – it is a good moment to reassess the EMU fiscal and monetary framework. The COVID-19 crisis has shown the value of having an active and experienced European Central Bank to confront it, as well as the need to structure an efficient EU fiscal response to recover from the crisis and achieve resilience. In sum, the need to strengthen, as well as to develop, the current framework. Two back-to-back panels will discuss these two aspects.

Conference Panels organised by the PWC

7 October 2020

Part II. Assessing the Present – Drivers of Change

14.15 – 15.30 – Plenary session: EMU architecture after the COVID-19 crisis

Chair: Katalin Ligeti (Dean of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance, University of Luxembourg)

• Marco Buti (Head of Cabinet of the European Commissioner for the Economy)
• Giancarlo Corsetti (Professor of Macroeconomics, University of Cambridge)
• Ramon Marimon (Pierre Werner Chair and Professor of Economics at the European University Institute, Professor at UPF – Barcelona GSE)
• Rolf Strauch (Chief Economist, European Stability Mechanism)

17.30 – 18.45 – Part III. Navigating the Future

Plenary session: The new fiscal dimensions of the Single Market: European public goods, corporate taxes, debt… Is there a need for an EU Treasury?

Chair: Viviane Reding (former Member of the European Parliament and European Commissioner)

• Joaquín Almunia (former European Commissioner and Vice-President of the European Commission) (via Webex)
• Roel Beetsma (Member of the European Fiscal Board and Professor at the University of Amsterdam)
• Frank Smets (Director General Economics, European Central Bank)
• Kathrin Muehlbronner (Senior Vice President – Sovereign Risk Group, Moody’s Investors Service) (via Webex)