# Seminar on fiscal policy making in the euro area

**Published:** 2012-09-17  
**Categories:** Latest  
**URL:** https://www.etla.fi/en/etla-events/seminar-fiscal-policy-making-euro-area/

During the euro area crisis, policymakers have been forced to reassess many lines of economic policy. A special focus has been on coordination of fiscal policy in the euro area: to what extent it should be deepened, and how the augmentation should be implemented? Does evolution of the Eurozone inevitably lead towards more federalist structures? A lively debate on the appropriate fiscal policy stance is also going on: what kind of fiscal policy would be optimal, when the economy is growing slowly despite ultra-low interest rates, but rapidly increasing public debt constraints options for reflating?

These were among the topics to be discussed in a seminar on fiscal policy making in the euro area that The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy ETLA organised

on 16 October 2012 at 9.00 – 15.30

at Event Arena Bank, Union Square auditorium, Unioninkatu 20, Helsinki.

Top European economists laid the ground for discussion. Presentations and prepared comments can be downloaded from the links below.

**Programme**

**09:00** Opening remarks **– Vesa Vihriälä,** ETLA

**Session I: Fiscal policy in Europe – what is the appropriate stance?**

09.10 [Presentation](/wp-content/uploads/161012_Muller.pdf) – **Gernot Müller,** University of Bonn
 09:50 [Comment](/wp-content/uploads/161012_Honkapohja.pdf) – **Seppo Honkapohja**, Bank of Finland
 10:10 Discussion

10.40 *Coffee break*

**Session II: The new fiscal rules – what will change in practice?**

11:10 [Presentation](/wp-content/uploads/161012_Pench.pdf) – **Lucio Pench**, EU Commission
 11:50 [Comment](/wp-content/uploads/161012_Jonung1.pdf) – **Lars Jonung**, Swedish Fiscal Council
 12:10 Discussion

12:40 *Lunch break*

**Session III: What sort of economic union is needed for the euro to survive?**

13:50 [Presentation](/wp-content/uploads/161012_Pisani-Ferry.pdf) – **Jean Pisani-Ferry**, Bruegel
 14:30 [Comment](/wp-content/uploads/161012_Korkman.pdf) – **Sixten Korkman**, Aalto University
 14:50 Panel Discussion on the future of the euro area
  **Jean Pisani-Ferry**
  **Sixten Korkman**
  **Lars Jonung** – [comment](/wp-content/uploads/161012_Jonung2.pdf)
  **Vesa Vihriälä**, moderator

15:30 Close of the seminar