On 15 December the Brexit Institute, organized at, and in collaboration with, the European Central Bank (ECB), an event on “Post-Pandemic Economic Governance” in the framework of the Jean Monnet Network BRIDGE which it leads, together with partners from Free University of Bozen-Bolzano,  the University of Copenhagen and the Central European University.

The event featured an introduction by Frank Elderson (Member of the ECB Executive Board), Philip Lane (Member of the ECB Executive Committee & ECB Chief Economist) as the keynote speaker, followed by a panel, chaired by Dr Chiara Zilioli (Director General of ECB Legal Service), featuring presentations by Prof. Stefania Baroncelli (University of Bolzano/Bozen) & Annelieke Mooij (DCU), Prof. Federico Fabbrini (Brexit Institute) and Prof. Renata Uitz (CEU). Dr. Johannes Lindner (ECB), ), Prof. Armin von Bogdandy (Max Planck Institute Heidelberg) and Dr Oliver Glück (Managing Partner, GSK Stockmann) acted as discussants.

The event was introduced by Frank Elderson, Member of the ECB’s Executive Board who introduced his role as well as the academic speakers and the topic introduced. Philip Lane, ECB Executive Board Member, undertook a presentation on the resilience of the Euro to the financial crisis, providing an update on the status of the EU economic governance. He also assessed the institutional architecture of the euro as well as its political economy.

Professor Federico Fabbrini (DCU) kicked-off the academic panel presenting his most recent research on the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic for economic and monetary union. In his presentation, entitled ‘Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union beyond Covid-19’ he underlined the path of reform of the EMU before, during and after Covid-19. Then followed a presentation on budgetary conditionality by Professor Renata Uitz (CEU) who gave also details on the very recent compromise on the MFF. The last academic presentation was given by Annelieke Mooij (DCU) and Stefania Baroncelli (UniBozen) discussed their very recent paper on the judicial review of the ECB action (appeared also as BRIDGE network Working Paper) where they explained the ECJ case law on the ECB and its problematic approaches.

Then a very engaging discussion based on the research presented by BRIDGE Network academics led by Johannes Lindner, Professor Armin Von Bogdandy and Oliver Glück followed. Johannes Lindner (ECB), departing from Federico Fabbrini’s paper, explained the main challenges to the EMU before Covid, and in particular the Euro crisis and Brexit. He then followed on examining how Covid-19 changed and challenged the landscape of the EMU. Then Professor Armin Von Bogdandy followed explaining the constitutional implications of the pandemic crisis and exploring the way forward for the EMU, but expressing skepticism on the opportunity of Treaty change. Oliver Glück from GSK Stockmann, with a presentation on “Development from an Economic Union to a Capital Markets Union”, closed the circle of the discussion outlining the challenges for financial services coming from the post-pandemic EMU.

Image credit: screenshot from the conference, reproducing the title of the presentation by Prof. Renata Uitz