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.

Last event

Online debate: Which (feasible) new Reconstruction Instrument(s) does Europe need?

An initiative of the Pierre Werner Chair at the EUI Schuman Centre, jointly organised with the Florence School of Banking and Finance and the Tommaso Padoa Schioppa Chair.

Date: Wednesday 20 April 2020
Time: 1:00-2:15
Venue: Zoom

To confront the COVID-19 crisis at the European level, the ECB has taken the lead with its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP), to which other instruments have been added: EIB guarantees, the EC proposal for Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) and, last week, the ESM’s new Precautionary Covid Line (PCL).

Nevertheless, there is widespread agreement – backed by the 17 April European Parliament resolution and 8 May Eurogroup statement – on the need to step-up the European response with a Recovery Fund and/or a well-structured Recovery Plan. The online seminar will focus on which are the most relevant European needs, and organisational forms, that a such plan should convey, in the light of the European Parliament initiatives and the – soon to be known – European Commission Recovery Plan.

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