European Institute

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Category: June 2010

Created on 07 June 2010

Following in the footsteps of its European neighbors, France looks set to raise the national retirement age in a bid to overhaul the nation’s government-run pension system and restore its ailing public finances. The move is highly controversial in France. But high unemployment and mounting state indebtedness, coupled with populations that are living longer in retirement, are putting enormous pressure on many EU member states to change the system. The idea is to make workers stay employed longer (and contributing longer to the program) and postpone the moment when they are entitled to start claiming benefits.

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Category: May 2010

Created on 21 May 2010

A closely-watched meeting of EU finance ministers announced agreement Friday on a four-point plan to regain credibility for their countries’ bonds and for the embattled euro.

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Category: May 2010

Created on 06 May 2010

The European Central Bank (ECB) has put itself at the center of the Greek rescue attempt by promising to “buy” Greek government bonds and thus help fund Athens reshape its economy at a discount.

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Category: Roundtables

Created on 22 April 2010

On April 22, 2010 The European Institute's Transatlantic Roundtable on Financial and Economic Affairs held a special luncheon meeting with The Honorable Olli Rehn, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs. In his first official visit to the United States since assuming this critical portfolio, Commissioner Rehn addressed the European Union’s efforts to restore financial stability and stimulate economic growth in the face of an unprecedented sovereign debt crisis. Speaking with Chrystia Freeland, Global Editor-at-large at Thomson Reuters, he outlined the actions taken to address Greece’s looming insolvency: fiscal consolidation and agreement on a euro area mechanism of coordinated conditional financial assistance for Greece. Commissioner Rehn emphasized his confidence in the cooperation between the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF. He downplayed concerns about debt crisis contagion in Spain, Portugal, and Italy, reminding participants that rising debt levels were in part the natural consequence of the stimulus packages enacted in response to the financial crisis, and that Greece is a special case. Commissioner Rehn reiterated his call to grant audit powers to Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency. He urged strengthening of the economic governance of the euro area through reinforcement of the Stability and Growth pact; broadening economic and fiscal surveillance to help rectify macroeconomic imbalances; and the establishment of a permanent crisis resolution mechanism. Commissioner Rehn also  addressed financial sector reform proposals on both sides of the Atlantic, stressing the importance of coordinating such policies not only within the transatlantic context, but also within the G-20 framework.

This meeting was supported by the Transatlantic Program of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany through funds of the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.