Pierre Werner Chair Programme • Projects • European University Institute

Chair holder: Ramon Marimon

The Robert Schuman Centre hosts the Pierre Werner Chair Programme on Monetary Union, named in memory of Pierre Werner, one of the architects of economic and monetary union, and generously funded by the Luxembourg Government.

Economic and monetary union will make it possible to realize an area within which goods and services, people and capital will circulate freely and without competitive distortions, without thereby giving rise to structural or regional disequilibrium
Werner Report, 1970.

Almost fifty years later, the successful development of the European Union and the EMU has vindicated – and, in most dimensions, gone beyond – the farsighted vision of Pierre Werner. But the EU experience – in particular, the euro crisis – has also shown how difficult it is to eliminate ‘structural or regional disequilibrium’ or to eliminate ‘competitive distortions’ while fostering growth, macroeconomic stability and maintaining or developing the European Welfare state(s).

Fortunately, these and related challenges nourish new research in macroeconomic theory, policy and institutional design, which provides a theoretical and empirical basis to the EMU policy debate and the further development of its architecture. To contribute to this research defines the agenda of the Pierre Werner Chair and its activities.

Topics

Economic governance in the European Union

Enlargement of the European Union and the adaptations implied both for the arrangements for economic and monetary union and for the future member states

The economic and political requirements and consequences of a revised Stability and Growth Pact

Public finance issues in the context of EMU

The growth and development of European financial institutions

The regulation and operations of financial markets in the European Union

The design of monetary stabilization policies, goals and instruments - with a comparative analysis of the experience of the European Central Bank, the US Federal Reserve system

The economic and institutional consequences of the Euro in the world monetary system.

Recent event

Preventing global and domestic risks with fiscal and monetary policies

Banque de France – EUI conference

EUI (Florence), 18-19 October 2018

The conference covered a variety of themes related to preventing or tackling global and domestic risks using fiscal and/or monetary policies. Topics of the conference included:

Assessing the effects of unconventional monetary policy
Modelling macro-prudential policy and evaluating its effects
Stabilization policies in crises and in normal times
International spillovers’ risks from fiscal and monetary policies
The role of international organisations (IMF, ESM, etc.) in preventing crises
Reducing risks in the International Monetary System

Vitor Gaspar, Director of the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department, and Hélène Rey, Lord Bagri Professor of Economics at the London Business School, gave keynote lectures.

The event was hosted by the European University Institute, and co-sponsored by the Banque de France and the Pierre Werner Chair at the EUI.

Download the programme

Download the papers