As it nears its 60th anniversary, the European Union is haunted by a succession of crises. Europe’s economy has just gone through a lost decade. Growth and investment remain low, while debt and unemployment have settled at high levels in many parts of the eurozone. The EU is also politically weaker: One of its largest members is preparing to leave, and populism is on the rise in many countries.

The ad hoc stabilization measures of the past years will not suffice to protect the euro against further crises and bring the eurozone back on a sustainable growth path. A wait-and-see approach is both economically expensive and politically dangerous. If we want the common currency to deliver stability and economic growth, we need to prepare and reform the euro area now. To this end, a high-level working group has brought together in a Report the best reform ideas and translated them into a comprehensive reform strategy at this crucial juncture in Europe’s history.

 

Programme

14:30 – Introduction

Artur Santos Silva, President of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Enrico Letta, President of the Jacques Delors Institute

 

15:15 – Presentation of the report “Repair and prepare: growth and the Euro after Brexit”

Henrik Enderlein, Director of the Jacques Delors Institut-Berlin

 

15:30- Debate

Enrico Letta, President of the Jacques Delors Institute
Maria João Rodrigues, Vice-Presidente of the European Parliament
Gertrude Tumpell-Gugerell, Emerita consultant, Austrian Intsitute for Economic Research (WIFO); former member of the Executive Board of the ECB

Discussants:
José Leandro, Director Policy, Strategy and Coordination, DG ECFIN, European Commission
Ricardo Cabral, Economist
Niels Thygesen, Chair of the European Fiscal Board, former independent member of the Delors Committee on the EMU
Debate chaired by Eva Gaspar, journalist at Jornal de Negócios

 

17:00 – Concluding remarks

António Vitorino, former President of the Jacques Delors Institute

 

17:15 – Closing Session

Mário Centeno, Finance Minister of Portugal

 

 

Download the report (PDF 1MB)