CASE hosted the EUROFRAME conference: “Towards a Better Governance in the EU?”
On May 24th, CASE hosted the 10th annual EUROFRAME conference on policy issues in the EU entitled “Towards a Better Governance in the EU?”, organized in cooperation with the National Bank of Poland.
Representatives of the EUROFRAME group of research institutes, European think tanks and academic and government institutions gathered to discuss economic policy issues relevant in the current context of global crisis, which exposed the weaknesses of economic governance in the EU, severely weakening the concept of a single euro zone. The aim of the conference was to focus on how to improve European governance in the broadest possible sense (stability mechanisms, macroeconomic imbalances, financial safety net, etc.). The EUROFRAME conference provided a platform for exchanging ideas and presenting various solutions for the current state of affairs. The event brought together speakers representing various approaches and opting for diverse directions for the EU.
After the official opening by Catherine Mathieu, President of EUROFRAME, and Luca Barbone, President of CASE, Prof. Andrzej Sławiński, Director General of the Economic Institute at the National Bank of Poland, gave a keynote address on “Macro-prudential policy: expanding the central bank’s countercyclical arsenal”. The parallel sessions that followed touched upon various topics, including: financial issues, fiscal issues, governance, federalism, disparities, and cross-country comparisons.
The two sessions on EU Governance focused on attempts to solve various weaknesses in the economic governance system and monetary union. The presentations delivered, in the first session, by Jorgen Mortensen, Philip Mohl and Henri Sterdyniak and, in the second session, by Stefan Kawalec, Marcin Święcicki, Jasper Lukkezen, and Luca Barbone and Grzegorz Poniatowski aimed to find a good governance model for the EU, while at the same time thinking of scenarios for the possible dismantlement of the euro zone.
The session on Disparities provided a broad analysis of the current account balance and competitiveness among European countries, discussed the Euro+ Pact approved in March 2011, and offered a comparison of two different models for industrial governance – the Western model and the emerging countries’ model. The discussant emphasized the role of the current account balance during the global financial crisis and suggested possible ways of broadening the horizons of the studies presented by Tatiana Fic, Karsten Staehrn and Karolina Krupa
Two Financial Issues sessions, with presentations by Tomasz Orpiszewski, Magdalena Ignotowski and Małgorzata Pawłowska, Ewa Miklaszewska, Krzysztof Makarski, Maylis Avaro and Henri Sterdyniak, discussed the sources of growing imbalances within the EU and contributed to the debate on the shape of the post-crisis regulatory architecture.
The Fiscal Issues session examined the fiscal policy in the euro area, delivered prognoses of the future outcome, and discussed the problems in assessing the results of fiscal measures because of cross-country differences and various business cycles. It also dealt with the realistic chances of reducing the public debt by the year 2032. This session’s panelists included: Philip Reicher, Martin Plodt, Matti Viren, Marion Cochard and Danielle Schweisguth.
The session on Cross-country comparisons analyzed the advantages and disadvantages resulting from membership in the European Monetary Union (EMU) and the relationship of public debt to GDP. Supported by the case studies of Finland and Sweden, two countries that have chosen very different monetary regimes, the conclusion was that the monetary regime may matter less for economic performance than it is often argued.
The last session of the conference, chaired by Cezary Wójcik from the Polish Academy of Sciences, was devoted to Federalism. With presentations by Luc Eyraud, Olga Kiuila and Marek Dąbrowski, the session shed light on various European and federal fiscal governance systems, comparing their designs, usefulness and effectiveness in imposing restrictions on subnational fiscal authorities. The session focused on the kind of fiscal union needed within the EU and EMU, giving arguments against and in favor of fiscal integration or tax harmonization.
A special session was devoted to WWWforEurope, a project aiming to determine the kind of new European growth and development strategy that is feasible and necessary to ensure the social inclusion and well-being of citizens, socio-ecological transition to high levels of employment, resilience of ecological systems, and significant contribution to the global common goods like climate stability.
In closing the conference, following a roundtable discussion with Witold Orłowski, Marek Dąbrowski, Paolo Onofri and Henri Sterdyniak, Luca Barbone stated that the vast spectrum of solutions offered during the conference only proves the complexity of the current situation and the need for a common effort to resolve these issues.
See the full program and conference papers.
The photographs were taken by Włodzimierz Dąbkowski (NBP)
