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Maria Demertzis

Leader, ESF, The Conference Board Europe

Maria Demertzis is a Leader at ESF, The Conference Board Europe, former Senior fellow at Bruegel and part-time Professor of Economic Policy at the Florence School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute. She was Bruegel’s Deputy Director until December 2022. She has previously worked at the European Commission and the research department of the Dutch Central Bank. She has also held academic positions at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in the USA and the University of Strathclyde in the UK, from where she holds a PhD in economics. She has published extensively in international academic journals and contributed regular policy inputs to both the European Commission's and the Dutch Central Bank's policy outlets. She contributes regularly to national and international press and has regular column that appears twice a month in various EU newspapers and on Bruegel’s opinion page.

Disclosure of interests

Declaration of interests 2023

Declaration of interests 2022

Declaration of interests 2021

Declaration of interests 2020

Declaration of interests 2019

Declaration of interests 2018

Declaration of interests 2017

Featured work

Podcast

Europe's economic future

Discussing June’s EU elections and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s campaign for a new term.

Rebecca Christie, Maria Demertzis and Henry Foy
Opinion piece

There is no such thing as normality

Greece paid a high price for learning that it must reform and conform. The rest of the world will pay a much higher price for its unruly politics.

Maria Demertzis
Opinion piece

The tyranny of EU treaties

It is an overdue question whether those agreements are still fit for purpose or if they must be changed.

Maria Demertzis
Opinion piece

On immigration

The EU must collectively appreciate the human capital that enters its borders as opportunities rather than just risks.

Maria Demertzis
Opinion piece

One year in ten numbers

A reflection on how the world has changed since the Ukraine invasion, through the lens of ten revealing numbers.

Maria Demertzis
Podcast

Economic policy wrapped up 2022

As 2022 closes, we look back at some of the most important and interesting economic policy developments from Europe and the world.

Maria Demertzis, Giuseppe Porcaro, André Sapir and Jeromin Zettelmeyer
Policy Brief

How have sanctions impacted Russia?

In this paper we assess both the immediate economic impact and the likely longer-term impact of sanctions on the Russian economy.

Maria Demertzis, Benjamin Hilgenstock, Ben McWilliams, Elina Ribakova and Simone Tagliapietra
Opinion piece

A cold winter

Reforming energy markets must aim to make them less vulnerable to crises such as today’s, even if such crises are rare.  

Maria Demertzis
Event

EU enlargement in a new light

What would increase government support around EU enlargement, and what role could membership play in future peace talks?

Podcast

Taming inflation?

What are the implications of prolonged inflation?

Grégory Claeys, Maria Demertzis and Megan Greene
Opinion piece

Repurposing the peace dividend

The war in Ukraine has brought an end to a 60-year period in which Europe has enjoyed a peace dividend, an amount released by reducing defence expendi

Maria Demertzis
Opinion piece

War on Ukraine: the day after

The international community will have to restart the long process of de-escalation in order to preserve peace. We have a long climb ahead.

Maria Demertzis
Podcast

Maastricht at 30

How has this founding treaty changed European integration?

Maria Demertzis, Mathieu Segers and Amy Verdun
Podcast

Rethinking fiscal policy

A look at the past, present and future of fiscal policy in the European Union with Chief economist of the European Stability Mechanism, Rolf Strauch.

Zsolt Darvas, Maria Demertzis and Rolf Strauch
Podcast

Unboxing the State of the Union 2021

In this Sound of Economics Live episode, Bruegel experts look at the State of the Union address delivered by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the Eu

Grégory Claeys, Maria Demertzis, Alicia García-Herrero and Giuseppe Porcaro
Podcast

Restarting the economy?

While the end of the pandemic is still far, the economy will have to restart.

Carlo Altomonte, Maria Demertzis, Filippo di Mauro and Steffen Müller
Opinion piece

The Biden promise

In the eyes of Europeans, Joe Biden’s US election win brings the promise of major change with global relevance. From climate to multilateralism, to tr

Maria Demertzis
Podcast

The year that tested us all

An overview of economic policy and beyond in 2020

Maria Demertzis, Giuseppe Porcaro, André Sapir and Guntram B. Wolff
Podcast

For a better, more sovereign Europe

Keynote address by the German Federal Minister of Finance Olaf Scholz at Bruegel Annual Meetings, 3 September 2020

Maria Demertzis, Olaf Scholz and Guntram B. Wolff
Podcast

Financial fragility after #COVID19

Before the pandemic hit, a substantial share of households reported that they would be unable to handle a financial emergency. In some EU countries, m

Maria Demertzis, Annamaria Lusardi and Giuseppe Porcaro
Podcast

Post-Council commentary

On April 23, EU leaders met virtually to try to come to an agreement for a common European response to the COVID-19 pandemic. What were the measures t

Maria Demertzis, Giuseppe Porcaro, André Sapir and Guntram B. Wolff
Podcast

Exiting the great lockdown?

Are we going to exit from the containment measures for the COVID-19 pandemic in the European Union? When? How? In this episode of The Sound of Economi

Maria Demertzis, Thomas Hale, Jean Pisani-Ferry and Giuseppe Porcaro
Podcast

Did the Eurogroup save the day?

After its longest meeting ever, the Eurogroup reached an agreement yesterday evening. What does the agreement say? What does it mean?

Maria Demertzis, André Sapir and Guntram B. Wolff
Podcast

The science of Brexit

On Saturday morning, the United Kingdom will wake up outside the European Union. After 37 years of collaboration, how will Brexit affect research and

Nicholas Barrett, Maria Demertzis, Michael Leigh and Guntram B. Wolff
Event

Issues in productivity measurement

This Bruegel public event is organised in the framework of MICROPROD, a research project that aims to improve our understanding of productivity, its d

Podcast

How to Spend it

Can governments make their fiscal policy go further? And are they trusted enough to try? This week The Sound of Economics asks if the quality of publi

Nicholas Barrett, Boris Cournede, Maria Demertzis and Francesco Papadia
Podcast

The Art of the Brexit Deal

An emergency Brexit podcast to dissect today's tentative deal between the EU27 and the British Government, featuring Maria Demertzis, Guntram Wolff an

Nicholas Barrett, Maria Demertzis and Guntram B. Wolff
Event

Bruegel Annual Meetings 2019

Bruegel's 2019 Annual Meetings will be held on 4-5 September and feature the launch of Bruegel's Memos to the New European Commission.

Podcast

Director’s cut: Wrapping up 2018

With 2018 drawing to a close, and the dawn of 2019 imminent, Bruegel's scholars reflect on the economic policy developments we can expect in the new y

Maria Demertzis, Jean Pisani-Ferry, Francesco Papadia, Elina Ribakova, André Sapir, Nicolas Véron, Thomas Wieser and Guntram B. Wolff
Article

Transatlantic Relations

Testimony at the Committee for External Relations of the Belgium Federal Parliament

Maria Demertzis
Podcast

Multispeed Europe

In this episode of the Sound of Economics, Maria Demertzis, and Italy's State Secretary for European Affairs Sandro Gozi, discussed about the issue of

Maria Demertzis and Sandro Gozi
Event

Europe's trust deficit

At this event, we discussed the rise of populism in Europe and the economic, security, and identity concerns behind the movement.

Podcast

Labour mobility in Europe

With anti-immigration sentiment on the rise, we look into the issue of labour mobility in Europe. How does migration affect labour markets and how doe

Maria Demertzis, Samuel Engblom, Anna Ilyina, Giuseppe Porcaro and Alessandra Venturini
Podcast

Brexit: the way forward

There is still huge uncertainty about the future of EU-UK relations. What will Brexit mean for politics and business, and is there any scope for flexi

Lionel Barber, James Blitz, Maria Demertzis, Giuseppe Porcaro and Guntram B. Wolff
Podcast

Debt resolution: moving on after the crisis

An excess of indebtedness is constraining economic growth in many economies. Indeed, the deleveraging since the financial crisis is exceptionally slow

Maria Demertzis, Giuseppe Porcaro and Carmen Reinhart
Podcast

Brexit: what happens next

On 23 June, the UK voted to leave the European Union. What will the UK’s new relationship with the EU look like?

Maria Demertzis, Áine Quinn, Nicolas Véron, Bryn Watkins and Guntram B. Wolff