Saving the Eurozone: What might a Franco-German initiative look like?

Monetary union requires a political centre. Such a new institutional architecture is unlikely to come into being without a bold Franco-German initiative. This is the point of departure for our lunchtime (12:30 to 14:30) discussion on 20th October 2015 “Saving the Eurozone: What might a Franco-German initiative look like?”

The discussion will be introduced by Shahin Vallée, Economic Advisor to the French Minister for the Economy until recently, and Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Chief Economist at the German Ministry for Economic Affairs, and chaired by Jakob von Weizsäcker, MEP. The June op-ed by Emmanuel Macron and Sigmar Gabriel “A stronger Eurozone for a better Union” is recommended background reading. The meeting will be held in English under the Chatham House Rule.

About the speakers:

Jeromin Zettelmeyer is the chief economist at the German Ministry for Economic Affairs. Prior to that he was deputy chief economist and director of research at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. From 1994 to 2008 he worked at the International Monetary Fund. His recent work has focused on reform of the European financial architecture, management of the euro area crisis, and how to raise investment in Germany.

Shahin Vallée is a Senior Economist at SFM UK Management LLP and a Fellow at large from Bruegel. He was Economic Advisor to the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy between June 2012 and September 2014. He worked in particular on questions pertaining to the architecture of the euro area and the consequences of the economic and financial crisis. He subsequently became Economic Advisor to the French Minister for the Economy until May 2015.

The meeting will be held in English under the Chatham House Rule.