To mark the 50th anniversary of the Werner Report, the C²DH and its partners are organising an international conference. At a time of uncertainty as to the wider European project, the role of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) will be analysed via an interdisciplinary approach based on archive research and existing literature.

The different sessions can be followed online via Webex. Please chose the sessions you want to follow online and you can access the corresponding links on the Online Event page.

More information about the series of events available at wernerreport50.uni.lu

PROGRAMME

7 October 2020

9.00 – 10.30 – Plenary inaugural session

Opening addresses

• Stéphane Pallage (Professor, Rector of the University of Luxembourg)

• Renaud Dehousse (Professor, President of the European University Institute, Florence) (TBC)

Introductory remarks

• Andreas Fickers (Professor, Director of the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History, University of Luxembourg)

• Ramon Marimon (Professor, Pierre Werner Chair on Monetary Union, European University Institute, Florence)

Introductory lecture

• Pierre Gramegna (Minister of Finance of Luxembourg)

10.45 – 11.45 – Keynote

Keynote by Loukas Tsoukalis (Professor, Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po, Paris; President of the Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), Athens)

Part I. Learning from the Past

11.45 – 13.00 – Plenary session: Between memory and history: Epistemic communities in building EMU

Chair: Bernard Snoy et d’Oppuers (President of Robert Triffin International, Professor at the Université Catholique de Louvain)

Pierre Werner, Robert Triffin, Jean Monnet and European monetary cooperation from the 1960s to the 1980s (the emerging concept of a “European reserve fund”)

• Pierre Werner – Elena Danescu (Research Scientist, Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History, University of Luxembourg)

• Robert Triffin – Ivo Maes (Professor, Université Catholique de Louvain/National Bank of Belgium) and Ilaria Pasotti (Researcher, Catholic University of Milan)

• Jean Monnet – Gilles Grin (Director, Fondation Jean Monnet pour l’Europe – Lausanne)

Part II. Assessing the Present – Drivers of Change

14.15 – 15.30 – Plenary session: EMU architecture after the COVID-19 crisis

Chair: Katalin Ligeti (Dean of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance, University of Luxembourg)

• Marco Buti (Head of Cabinet of the European Commissioner for the Economy)
• Giancarlo Corsetti (Professor of Macroeconomics, University of Cambridge)
• Frank Smets (Director General Economics, European Central Bank)
• Rolf Strauch (Chief Economist, European Stability Mechanism)

15.45 – 17.15 – Parallel sessions

Part I. Learning from the Past

The Werner Report, the Delors Report and beyond – (a)symmetries and convergences in building EMU

Parallel session – The Werner Report – a roadmap for a comprehensive and symmetrical EMU

Chair: René Leboutte (Emeritus Professor, University of Luxembourg)

• Vincent Dujardin (Professor, Institute for Analysis of Change in Contemporary and Historical Societies, Louvain) (The Werner Report – perception in Belgium)
• Giovanni Farese (Associate Professor, European University of Rome) (The Werner Report and the Carli Plan)
• Michael Ambrosi (Emeritus Professor, Trier University) (The Werner Report and the international role of the euro)

Parallel session – The Delors Report and a critical assessment of the Maastricht EMU

Chair: Valérie Schafer (Professor, Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History, University of Luxembourg)

• Eric Bussière (Professor, Paris-Sorbonne University) (Delors Report & Maastricht EMU)
• Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol (Professor, University of Glasgow) (A text mining approach to the records of the Delors Committee meetings) (via Webex)

Part II. Assessing the Present – Drivers of Change

EMU in uncertain times

Parallel session: Tales from crisis

Chair: David Howarth (Professor, University of Luxembourg/Robert Schuman Initiative for European Affairs)

• Francesco Papadia (Senior Researcher – Chair of the Selection Panel of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, Senior Resident Fellow at Bruegel) (Diverging narratives of the euro area – a historical perspective) (via Webex)
• Christian Ghymers (Professor, ICHEC Brussels Management School, Robert Triffin International) (The EMU crisis viewed from the Werner Report and the Triffin plans)
• Marie-Claude Esposito (Emeritus Professor, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3) (Lessons from Brexit)
• Daniel Gros (Director, Centre for European Policy Studies)
• Martin Selmayr (Professor, Centre for European Law at the University of Passau)

Parallel session: EMU facing current challenges

Chair: Benoît Majerus (Associate Professor, Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History, University of Luxembourg)

• Erik Jones (Professor, School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University, USA) (The relationship between monetary union and political union) (via Webex)
• Lars Magnusson (Professor, Uppsala University) (Enhanced fiscal integration within EMU) (via Webex)
• Ad van Riet (Associate Research Fellow, Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies, United Nations University) (EMU fiscal integration in support of the ECB: whatever it takes in a crisis?)
• Fabio Masini (Professor, Roma Tre University) and Alfonso Iozzo (Robert Triffin International) (From the European Stability Mechanism to the European Monetary Fund)

17.30 – 18.45 – Part III. Navigating the Future

Plenary session: The new fiscal dimensions of the Single Market: European public goods, corporate taxes, debt… Is there a need for an EU Treasury?

Chair: Viviane Reding (former Member of the European Parliament and European Commissioner)

• Joaquín Almunia (former European Commissioner and Vice-President of the European Commission) (via Webex)

• Roel Beetsma (Member of the European Fiscal Board and Professor at the University of Amsterdam)

• Ramon Marimon (Pierre Werner Chair and Professor of Economics at the European University Institute, Professor at UPF – Barcelona GSE)

• Kathrin Muehlbronner (Senior Vice President – Sovereign Risk Group, Moody’s Investors Service) (via Webex)

8 October 2020

8.30 – 9.30 Plenary session / Mid-keynote

Mid-keynote by Harold James (Professor, Princeton University, USA) (via Webex)

9.30 – 10.45 Parallel sessions

Part II. Assessing the Present – Drivers of Change

Parallel session: Round table – Central banking in turbulent times

Chair: Isabelle Vaillant (Director of Prudential Regulation and Supervision Policy, European Banking Authority)

• Fabian Amtenbrink (Professor, Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam) (The judicialization of Economic and Monetary Union ) (via Webex)

• André Prüm (Professor, University of Luxembourg) (Judicial review of the ECB’s monetary decisions in light of the recent decision by the German Constitutional Court on the PSPP programme)

• Joachim Schild (Professor, Trier University) (Risk sharing, risk reduction and solidarity in the process of deepening EMU)

Parallel session: The international role of the euro

Chair: Christian Ghymers (Professor, ICHEC Brussels Management School, Robert Triffin International)

• Bernard Snoy et d’Oppuers (Professor, President of Robert Triffin International) (The international role of the euro)
• Sabine Dörry (Senior Research Fellow, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)) (The role of green/sustainable finance in times of crisis)
• Alfred Steinherr (Professor, Miami University)

11.00 – 12.15 Plenary session – Round table: Archives as spaces of memory – (Re)constructing the history of EMU

Moderator: Andreas Fickers (Professor, Director of the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History, University of Luxembourg)

Participants:

• Gilles Grin (Director, Fondation Jean Monnet pour l’Europe – Lausanne)

• Birgit Olsen (Coordinator, Archives of the European Investment Bank)

• Dieter Schlenker (Director, Historical Archives of the European Union)

• Henri Werner (Pierre Werner Family Archives)

12.15 – 13.15 – Plenary session – End keynote

Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (via Webex)

13.15 – 13.30 – Final plenary session

• Conclusion – Elena Danescu (Research Scientist, Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History, University of Luxembourg)

• Closing address – Cathérine Léglu Professor, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, University of Luxembourg)