Financing the green & social agenda with Matthias Kollatz

Available on Spotify and Apple Podcast

Matthias Kollatz has been working on public finance in various positions: as Vice-President of the EIB in Luxembourg but then as Financial Senator of Berlin. Here he shares his views about what changes the great financial crisis of 2008-9 brought about, and how important it has been in a post-crisis model to elevate promotional banks into a more central role.

He acknowledges some important steps of this financial transition, like the Juncker Plan that was launched in 2014. However, he believes that the German debt break (Schuldenbremse) is a product of a time when the investment needs of the economy were underestimated, and in particular there was no proper estimation of the financial implications of the Green Deal.

In order to deliver enough and the right type of climate investment, the EU and its member states need to upgrade their public and promotional banking capacity, but also reform their fiscal rules. Through similar innovations, adequate financing of social needs like housing could also be within reach. It is not the green and social ambitions that should be lowered but the common investment capacities of Europe that need to be upgraded.