The subsidy race triggered by the energy crisis in 2022 showed how electricity policy is central to industrial policy. Addressing this at EU level will become even more important in the coming years as Europe moves to electrify transport and other sectors, argue Ben McWilliams, Giovanni Sgaravatti, Simone Tagliapietra, and Georg Zachmann.
The EU needs to take the opportunity to strengthen the social dimension of its economic governance regime, argue Estrella Durá Ferrandis and Alba Huertas Ruiz.
It is now clear that extreme weather events will have a massive impact on our economies if we don’t transform them. Times have changed and the rules governing the coordination of national economic policies in the EU must adapt, argues Isabelle Brachet.
The EU's new fiscal rules should ensure fiscal responsibility without dogmas and allow for enough flexibility to enable investments, argue Stéphane Séjourné, Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Eva Poptcheva, and Catharina Rinzema of the Renew group.
The introduction of the digital euro is an opportunity to make our European money system fit for an ever more digitalised world. However, in order to ensure citizens’ trust in the project, the digital euro needs to be a true public good, argues Henrike Hahn.
The EU and her taxpayers should insist that international standards be implemented, and scandals resolved by embedded microstates prior to the Union becoming general guarantor on various fields, writes Martin Kreutner.
As India takes over the G20 presidency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi describes its challenges and priorities, based on promoting fairness and harmony throughout the world, under the slogan 'One Earth, One Family, One Future'.
The liberalisation and re-regulation of banking should be the explicit objective of the digital euro, write Martijn van der Linden and Bram Meulenbeld.
Faced with record inflation driven by high energy prices, the European Central Bank (ECB) has raised its interest rates to 1.25%, and further hikes are expected in the coming months. Yet, this risks derailing investments in renewable energies and building renovation that are needed to tackle the crisis at its root, writes Rens van Tilburg.
Europe faces into a winter of uncertainty, and potentially discontent. The cost of living is rising rapidly, and the spectre of a recession looms. The average inflation rate across the EU was close to 8% in March, and citizens are feeling the pinch, with 53% of respondents to Eurofound’s Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey reporting that their household had difficulties making ends meet in spring 2022, and 16% indicating being in arrears on their household utility bills.
Inflation is at record levels. The energy crisis threatens to stall European industry. The spiralling cost of living is driving millions into poverty and stoking fears of social unrest.
Workers across Europe are facing a social, industrial and climate emergency. Policy makers have not yet grasped the scale and urgency of the situation. An emergency plan is needed to deal with the soaring cost of living, stabilise purchasing power, protect jobs and support industries battling with the energy crisis.
Regulators should be mindful of the limitations of the European Central Bank's (ECB) climate stress test, and beware of a too-big-to-fail scenario once climate risks start materialising, argues Julia Symon.
The European Central Bank (ECB) risks the fragmentation and collapse of the eurozone if it tightens its monetary policy by selling government bonds. That is why it should look towards restricting the money supply by increasing the capital requirements for banks, write Leonardo Becchetti and Guido Cozzi.
The current rise in inflation is being driven by a rise in fossil fuel prices, and a tightening of the monetary policy by the European Central Bank (ECB) would not help against high prices and might even come at a great cost to the economy, argues Ernest Urtasun.
With its G20 Presidency starting on 1 December 2022, India hopes to play a pivotal role in what it sees as a “Decade of Action”, in view of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, writes Gauri Khandekar.
While the development of a digital euro offers new opportunities for Europe, they can only be seized if civil society can take part in this discussion, argue Tristan Dissaux, Jézabel Couppey-Soubeyran, and Wojtek Kalinowski in an opinion piece signed by more than 100 scholars and NGOs.
The novel coronavirus has shown glaring deficiencies in the world's collective ability to respond to infectious disease outbreaks, with none more evident than wealthy countries' self-destructive unwillingness to cooperate on vaccine equity for the benefit of the entire global population.
Once the dust of the COVID-19 crisis settles, it will be time to build a new foundation for Europe-Africa relations. As the EU searches for allies in a post-COVID world, a group of seven European think tank leaders looks at how to build a stronger Europe-Africa axis in the multilateral system.
Mario Draghi can use his role at the helm of the G20 to persuade China to sign up to global climate targets, argue Luca Bergamaschi and Bernice Lee.
Trillions is needed for the deep building renovations required to meet Europe's climate targets. To make this happen, EU institutions need to use the network of banks across Europe and incentivise loans for home renovation, argue finance campaigners.
The frugal alliance stands to gain very little if their campaign for premature fiscal consolidation following the pandemic succeeds, but they risk exposing the entire EU to serious political and economic consequences, writes Anna Peychev.
The European Central Bank (ECB)'s new monetary policy is a positive step, but it needs more ambition to tackle its climate problem, warns a group of European lawmakers, environmental activists and economists.
It is necessary to reform the European Union’s flawed macroeconomic architecture as the post-pandemic world demands a new fiscal rulebook to boost our economies, argues Margarida Marques.
