European Economic Governance or just a “shared sense of economic direction”

At the end of the Brussels summit of 17 June, Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, spoke of a “shared sense of economic direction” he had discovered among the European heads of state and government. But, even though the EU leaders agreed on the approach to reforming the EU’s system of economic co-ordination, this “shared sense” hides countless disagreements among EU governments. The national governments remain thoroughly divided over the best solutions to the financial crisis such as the possibility of imposing political sanctions or the introduction of a permanent European crisis mechanism. In the meantime, Olli Rehn, commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, presented proposals to toughen economic surveillance of Member States. The intention  is to bring about greater discipline by scrutinising the national budget plans and to introduce sanctions, such as a loss of structural funds and farm-support payments.  What chance is there to melt the European leaders’ ”shared sense of economic direction” into a real “European economic governance ” or – in other words – to turn the crisis into an opportunity for the European Union? What role can Herman Van Rompuy and his ministerial-level taskforce on governance play  and what will be the impact of the Belgian EU  presidency?

Speakers:
- Jürgen Trittin, Member of  the German Federal Parliament and parliamentary party leader of  Bündnis90/Die Grünen; former Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
- André Sapir, Senior Fellow, Bruegel, Professor of Economics, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, ECARES, Universite Libre de Bruxelles
- Daniel Gros, Director Centre for European Policy Studies
- Fabian Zuleeg, Chief Economist, European Policy Centre (tbc)

Moderator:
Dr. Jochen Bittner, journalist Die Zeit