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Bruegel Annual Meetings, 6-7 September 2022

The Annual Meetings are Bruegel's flagship event which gathers high-level speakers to discuss the economic topics that affect Europe and the world.

Time and location: 6–7 September 2022
Palais des Academies, Rue Ducale 1, 1000 Brussels

We live in uncertain times with new and existing challenges demanding our attention. As countries around the world were hoping to focus their efforts on exiting the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, Russia’s actions in Ukraine, and its response, are throwing economies into further turmoil. Meanwhile the long-standing issues of climate change and digitalisation still need to be addressed. How can policy makers in Europe and the rest of the world balance the need to tackle immediate threats with providing much needed solutions to long term problems?

Over the course of two days the Bruegel Annual Meetings gathered a core group of high-level stakeholders from the worlds of policy making, the private sector, academia, and civil society at a venue in Brussels to discuss the most urgent economic issues of our time. The event was livestreamed to a worldwide audience. The Bruegel Annual Meetings is one of the first big policy events of the autumn season in Brussels which helps shape the conversation for the coming months.

On-site participation at this event was open to Bruegel members and selected invitees.

Annual Meetings Booklet

The event recordings can be found in the individual session pages in the agenda or on Youtube.

Speakers

Piotr Arak

Director, Polish Economic Institute

Vincent Aussilloux

Director of the Economics Department, France Stratégie

Muhamad Chatib Basri

Former Finance Minister, Indonesia

Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of Indonesia

(Online)

Agnès Bénassy-Quéré

Member of the Board

Deputy Governor, Banque de France

Brando Benifei

Member, European Parliament

(Online)

Damian Boeselager

Member, European Parliament

(Online)

Laurence Boone

Minister of State for European Affairs, France

Nadia Calviño

First Vicepresident of Spain and Minister for Economy and Digitalization, Spain

William Carter

Global Policy Lead for Responsible AI, AI Governance and Regulation, Google

Rebecca Christie

Bruegel Senior fellow

Grégory Claeys

Bruegel Senior fellow (on leave for public service)

Uri Dadush

Bruegel Non-resident fellow

Zsolt Darvas

Bruegel Senior fellow

Guy Debelle

CFO, Fortescue Future Industries

Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of Australia

(Online)

Jo De Boeck

Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, imec

Sławomir Dębski

Director, The Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM)

Jos Delbeke

Professor, School of Transnational Governance, EUI

Former Director General, European Commission, DG Clima

Margarita Delgado

Deputy Governor, Banco de España

Maria Demertzis

Leader, ESF, The Conference Board Europe

Karolina Ekholm

Director General, Swedish National Debt Office

Jens Eisenschmidt

Chief Europe Economist, Morgan Stanley

Marion Finke

Member, Cabinet of Dubravka Šuica, European Commission

Alicia García-Herrero

Bruegel Senior fellow

Paolo Gentiloni

European Commissioner for the Economy,

Kristalina Georgieva

Managing Director, International Monetary Fund

(Online)

Nicola Giammarioli

Secretary General and Management Board Member, European Stability Mechanism

Anabel González

Deputy Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO)

Arancha González Laya

Dean Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po

Ricardo Hausmann

Founder and Director, Harvard’s Growth Lab

Rafik Hariri Professor of the Practice of International Political Economy, Harvard Kennedy School

Douglas Irwin

John French Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College

(Online)

Joana Jacinto

Undergraduate student of Politics, Philosophy and Law, University of Warwick

Patrick Jenkins

Deputy Editor, Financial Times

Alexandra Jour-Schroeder

Deputy Director General, European Commission, DG FISMA

Ditte Juul Jørgensen

Director-General, European Commission, DG ENER

Sigrid Kaag

Finance minister, the Netherlands

Katya Klinova

Head of Al, Labor and the Economy, The Partnership on AI

Annamaria Lusardi

Bruegel Non-resident fellow

Joanna Maćkowiak-Pandera

President, Forum Energii

Eva Maydell

Member of the European Parliament,

Mairead McGuinness

European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union, European Commission

Jan Mischke

Partner, McKinsey Global Institute (MGI)

Carlo Monticelli

Governor, Council of Europe Development Bank

Frederic Neumann

Chief Asia Economist and Co-Head of Global Research, ASP, HSBC

(Online)

Françoise Nicolas

Senior Research Fellow and Director, Center for Asian Studies, French Institute of International Relations

Laura Nurski

Non-resident fellow

Ebru Özdemir

Chair, Limak Investments

Tuomas Saarenheimo

President, Eurogroup Working Group

André Sapir

Bruegel Senior fellow

Andrea Sironi

Chairman of the Board, Generali

Marek Skawiński

Director, Macroeconomic Policy Department, Ministry of Finance, Poland

Francesco Starace

Chief Executive Officer and General Manager, Enel

(Online)

Philipp Steinberg

Director-General of Economic Policy, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Germany

Matina Stevis-Gridneff

Brussels bureau chief, The New York Times

Alexander Stubb

Director, School of Transnational Governance, EUI

(Online)

Arvind Subramanian

Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute, Brown University

Simone Tagliapietra

Bruegel Senior fellow

Amaryllis Verhoeven

Head of Unit – Digital transformation of industry, European Commission, DG GROW

Nicolas Véron

Bruegel Senior fellow

Reinhilde Veugelers

Bruegel Senior fellow

Nicola Villa

Executive Vice President, Strategic Growth, Mastercard,

Claire Waysand

Executive Vice President and Corporate Secretary, Engie

Beatrice Weder di Mauro

President, Centre for Economic Policy Research

Professor of International Economics, Graduate Institute of Geneva

President, CEPR

Sabine Weyand

Director-General, European Commission, DG Trade

Guntram B. Wolff

Bruegel Senior fellow

Catherine Woollard

Director, European Council on Refugees and Exiles

Georg Zachmann

Bruegel Senior fellow

Jeromin Zettelmeyer

Bruegel Director

Chair: Guntram B. Wolff, Bruegel Senior fellow
Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund; (Online)

Over the past three decades, the flow of people and services, and technological innovation have contributed to stronger worldwide integration. The system has been far from perfect, with room for progress in areas of inequality, supply chain disruptions, climate change and debt. With the start of the war in Ukraine, new issues have arisen. The world is seeing a sweeping geoeconomics fragmentation, which needs to be tackled through building trust and resilience, solving debt and addressing climate change. In this conversation with the Managing Director of the IMF, Ms Kristalina Georgieva, we look at how to implement those solutions.

Chair: Matina Stevis-Gridneff, Brussels bureau chief, The New York Times
Sławomir Dębski, Director, The Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM)
Arancha González Laya, Dean Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po
Alexander Stubb, Director, School of Transnational Governance, EUI; (Online)
Sabine Weyand, Director-General, European Commission, DG Trade
Guntram B. Wolff, Bruegel Senior fellow

In February 2022, Europe was shaken by the start of the war in Ukraine. A huge tragedy for the Ukrainian people, it also triggered a series of redefining moments on the geopolitical stage. From two EU countries’ joining NATO, rising tensions in the US-China relationship and exploding energy crisis, the EU is again facing a crisis. Substantial sanctions have been agreed but energy sanctions remain incomplete. A reconsideration of dependencies to trade partners is crucial. In this panel, we look at Europe’s precarious and unique position and identify the key aspects for the path out of this new crisis.

Chair: Nicolas Véron, Bruegel Senior fellow
Margarita Delgado, Deputy Governor, Banco de España
Alexandra Jour-Schroeder, Deputy Director General, European Commission, DG FISMA
Andrea Sironi, Chairman of the Board, Generali

In a 2017 paper*, Bruegel scholars André Sapir, Dirk Schoenmaker and Nicolas Véron argued that the EU should take Brexit as an opportunity to accelerate its financial system integration agenda. Absent that, they identified a risk of further damaging fragmentation related to the shift of Europe’s main financial center from onshore (from an EU standpoint) to offshore. Five years on, the banking union remains unfinished, and progress towards a capital markets union has only been made on incremental initiatives. Panelists will take a step back, reflect on whether Brexit has been a missed opportunity, and debate the future policy options.

*Read the paper here.

Chair: Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Bruegel Director
Agnès Bénassy-Quéré, Member of the Board
Karolina Ekholm, Director General, Swedish National Debt Office
Nicola Giammarioli, Secretary General and Management Board Member, European Stability Mechanism
Tuomas Saarenheimo, President, Eurogroup Working Group
Marek Skawiński, Director, Macroeconomic Policy Department, Ministry of Finance, Poland

How do we maximise national ownership over fiscal decisions while maintaining EU-wide coordination and good incentives? With respect to control over the (composition of) spending, when is there a trade-off between national ownership and EU-wide efficiency, and how can these objectives be reconciled? With respect to the fiscal rules, how can the reduction of cross border debt risks be reconciled with room for national stabilization policy? Do we need smarter rules, better implementation, or both? What is the optimal division of labor between national fiscal frameworks and EU-level institutions?

Chair: Zsolt Darvas, Bruegel Senior fellow
Piotr Arak, Director, Polish Economic Institute
Damian Boeselager, Member, European Parliament; (Online)
Carlo Monticelli, Governor, Council of Europe Development Bank
Catherine Woollard, Director, European Council on Refugees and Exiles

The fastest-growing humanitarian crisis since World War II forced millions to flee both within and outside Ukraine. By the summer, almost eight million Ukrainians arrived in the EU since the war started and half of them sought temporary protection, suggesting they might stay for a longer period. How can EU countries cope with the sudden arrival of so many people and provide accommodation, healthcare, protection from violence, and schooling for children? How can the integration of refugees, including labour market entry, be fostered? Is there a case for an EU-wide solidarity mechanism to help countries receiving the largest number of refugees?

Chair: Simone Tagliapietra, Bruegel Senior fellow
Guy Debelle, CFO, Fortescue Future Industries; Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of Australia; (Online)
Jos Delbeke, Professor, School of Transnational Governance, EUI; Former Director General, European Commission, DG Clima
Ebru Özdemir, Chair, Limak Investments
Philipp Steinberg, Director-General of Economic Policy, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Germany

Europe is in the midst of an unprecedented energy crisis. To avoid energy shortages in the coming months, all possible options are rightly being deployed – whether brown or green. Beyond the immediate crisis response, the Russian energy shock represents an opportunity for Europe to create a stronger continent-wide energy policy that will help accelerate its shift to green energy. As also outlined in the REPowerEU strategy, an accelerated deployment of clean energy solutions is the main avenue to structurally make Europe free of fossil-fuel dependency. This session will discuss what is and what should be done to make this happen.

Chair: Grégory Claeys, Bruegel Senior fellow (on leave for public service)
Jens Eisenschmidt, Chief Europe Economist, Morgan Stanley
Jan Mischke, Partner, McKinsey Global Institute (MGI)
Beatrice Weder di Mauro, President, Centre for Economic Policy Research; Professor of International Economics, Graduate Institute of Geneva; President, CEPR

With inflation at a level unseen for 4 decades, growth slowing down quickly due to the energy crisis, supply bottlenecks due to Covid-19, a war at its doors, and political instability brewing in some countries, the European economy appears to be hit by a perfect storm. What will happen in the coming months and how should policymakers respond to this difficult and uncertain situation?

Chair: André Sapir, Bruegel Senior fellow
Laurence Boone, Minister of State for European Affairs , France;
Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Bruegel Director

A series of recent events have exposed Europe’s vulnerability to external shocks. France's new State Minister for Europe, Laurence Boone will talk about the areas where Europe can increase self-reliance in order to build a more sovereign Europe. Some key fields are defence, trade, industrial and digital policy, as well as economic policy.

Chair: Laura Nurski, Non-resident fellow
Brando Benifei, Member, European Parliament; (Online)
William Carter, Global Policy Lead for Responsible AI, AI Governance and Regulation, Google
Katya Klinova, Head of Al, Labor and the Economy, The Partnership on AI

The effects of AI on labour market outcomes are shaped at two levels. First-order choices on the design of this new technology happen in the stage of R&D, which tends to focus excessively on automation and technologies that inefficiently drive down wages. Secondorder choices on the adoption and implementation of AI in businesses – to the benefit or detriment of workers – take place inside organisations. In this session we discuss (1) how society can steer the R&D of AI in a labour-complementing and welfare-enhancing direction and (2) how businesses can responsibly implement these technologies in the workplace.

Chair: André Sapir, Bruegel Senior fellow
Uri Dadush, Bruegel Non-resident fellow
Anabel González, Deputy Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO)
Douglas Irwin, John French Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College; (Online)
Arvind Subramanian, Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute, Brown University

The rise of China and other emerging economies, growing inequalities in advanced countries, the global financial crisis, the pandemic and now the war in Ukraine have led many to argue that global trade and the WTO’s multilateral trade rules are threats rather than opportunities. Is globalisation over? Will geopolitics trigger friend-shoring, protectionism and self-sufficiency? Will global trade rules be replaced by competing regional rules? Or will the international community succeed to rekindle the spirit of international cooperation and reshape WTO rules to achieve global goals such as the fight against climate change?

Chair: Guntram B. Wolff, Bruegel Senior fellow
Sigrid Kaag, Finance minister, the Netherlands

As the news of record-breaking temperatures is pouring in from all over the world, we recognize that it is no longer a question of ‘if’ and ‘when’, and that governments need to step up and adapt to the fast-deteriorating climate situation. Climate change requires that both public and private capital is used to invest in green solutions and help build a sustainable world for everyone. What policies will be necessary to incite private investment? What economic trade-offs can we ensure for public investment? In general, what will be the macroeconomic implications of these instruments?

Chair: Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Bruegel Director
Marion Finke, Member, Cabinet of Dubravka Šuica, European Commission
Joana Jacinto, Undergraduate student of Politics, Philosophy and Law, University of Warwick

At this session we will award the winner of the 2022 Year of Youth Essay Competition, Joana Jacinto, whose winning essay Inverting the pyramid: Addressing the depopulation of the European Union will be published by Bruegel. Ms Jacinto will discuss her essay with a representative from the European Commission.

This session is co-branded with EU3D (H2020 project – GA 822419).

Chair: Alicia García-Herrero, Bruegel Senior fellow
Muhamad Chatib Basri, Former Finance Minister, Indonesia; Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of Indonesia; (Online)
Frederic Neumann, Chief Asia Economist and Co-Head of Global Research, ASP, HSBC; (Online)
Françoise Nicolas, Senior Research Fellow and Director, Center for Asian Studies, French Institute of International Relations

The pandemic and the war in Ukraine have accelerated decoupling forces between the US and China. Such forces have expanded from trade to finance and people-to-people This has huge implications for the world but especially for Asia. Asian economies are coming out of the pandemic at different speeds and are reacting differently to such decoupling forces. The US is advancing its influence on Asia through a still-to-be-defined Indopacific Economic Framework while a Covid-stricken China is levering from its regional trade agreements in the region, especially RCEP. Europe’s strategy to benefit from Asia’s growth and size is yet to be fully defined. This panel will evaluate Asia’s economic situation in the light of these shocks and make proposals for a European economic strategy for Asia.

Chair: Reinhilde Veugelers, Bruegel Senior fellow
Vincent Aussilloux, Director of the Economics Department, France Stratégie
Jo De Boeck, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, imec
Eva Maydell, Member of the European Parliament
Amaryllis Verhoeven, Head of Unit – Digital transformation of industry, European Commission, DG GROW
Nicola Villa, Executive Vice President, Strategic Growth, Mastercard

Digital technologies are associated with innovation and higher firm productivity. The EU’s lacklustre productivity growth is often related to its weaker performance in digital technology production and adoption.

At the same time, ‘superstar’ firms advance technological evolution and exhibit star performance. These winners are usually “Big Tech” firms from the US, China, or Southeast Asia. If EU firms are unable to integrate new digital technologies into their business models, they will lose out.

What policies are needed? What challenges does the EU face? Are the current approaches (DMA, DSA, Chip Act, Green Deal, Missions, IPCEIs…) the right path?

Chair: Georg Zachmann, Bruegel Senior fellow
Ditte Juul Jørgensen, Director-General, European Commission, DG ENER
Joanna Maćkowiak-Pandera, President, Forum Energii
Francesco Starace, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager, Enel; (Online)
Claire Waysand, Executive Vice President and Corporate Secretary, Engie

The European Union is facing its worst energy crisis. A massive shortfall of energy supplies to Europe is meeting a fast recovery in demand after Covid. Energy prices exploded as a result. Governments so far mainly reacted by supporting consumers – through price caps or subsidies – so that they can maintain their consumption levels. As the global supply-demand imbalance only slowly recedes, the fiscal cost of these support measures is increasing already before the winter. In this session we will discuss what policies can mitigate the energy shock.

Chair: Maria Demertzis, Leader, ESF, The Conference Board Europe
Nadia Calviño, First Vicepresident of Spain and Minister for Economy and Digitalization, Spain

European economies are facing multiple challenges caused first by the pandemic and then the war in Ukraine. In this session Nadia Calvino, First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain and Minister for Economy and Digitalization, will explore how to tackle urgent issues such as like rising inflation and the risk of imminent energy shocks, while continuing to work on longer-term challenges such as the fiscal architecture of the EU and the digital and green transition.

Chair: Maria Demertzis, Leader, ESF, The Conference Board Europe
Patrick Jenkins, Deputy Editor, Financial Times
Annamaria Lusardi, Bruegel Non-resident fellow
Mairead McGuinness, European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union, European Commission

Improving financial literacy is crucial, especially in the frame of the ongoing cost of living crisis. The people hit hardest by financial crises (low-income groups, women, young people and older people) are also the ones that score lower on financial knowledge. By empowering individuals to take the right financial decisions we can help them better navigate future crises.

Chair: Rebecca Christie, Bruegel Senior fellow
Ricardo Hausmann, Founder and Director, Harvard’s Growth Lab; Rafik Hariri Professor of the Practice of International Political Economy, Harvard Kennedy School

In developing countries tackling climate change should not be framed in terms of reducing the carbon footprint. Instead, they need to grasp the growth opportunities provided decarbonisation through the transformation of global production and trade patterns. Developing countries can help the global economy go green by using their natural resources instead of stunting their growth.

Chair: Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Bruegel Director
Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for the Economy

To close the Bruegel Annual Meetings, Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for the Economy will map out the outlook for the European economy before delving into the state of play of the recovery and resilience plan and REPowerEU. Finally, he will discuss the review of the economic governance framework, a top priority for the next few months.

Theme: Macroeconomic policy and governance Global economy and trade Green economy Digital economy, labour markets, skills and health Banking and capital markets
Keyword: eu governance global governance climate change financial literacy future of work migration digital economy
Series: Annual meetings
Collection: New technologies in the workplace
Language: English
Additional downloads: Annual Meetings Booklet (PDF 16.14MB)