The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has triggered unprecedented responses by European governments to support businesses, workers, and vulnerable social groups. These measures required increased fiscal firepower from public authorities, supported by accommodative monetary policies of the European Central Bank. While important for supporting people’s livelihoods and managing the unequal impact of the crisis across different groups of workers, these policies led to a further increase of public debt levels that are already at an historical high.

Some analysts argue that further fiscal stimulus will be necessary to stimulate a sustained economic recovery from the pandemic. Despite the EU’s united effort to establish of a €750 billion EU recovery fund in July last year, the biggest test for European integration is still to come as member states grapple with how to square the new economic reality with constitutionalised limits on public debt levels.

In this panel discussion, experts on the political economy of Europe will examine some of the pressing questions arising from the European COVID-19 response: will political divisions between fiscal hawks and doves in the Eurozone re-emerge? Are fiscal deficits still a problem in the age of low interest rates, and if so, is another public debt crisis on the horizon? How has the pandemic affected the inequalities in the world of work?

*Please note, joining information will be provided to attendees closer to the scheduled date*

PANEL

Professor Simona Talani (European & International Studies, KCL)

Professor Engelbert Stockhammer (European & International Studies, KCL)

Professor Waltraud Schelkle (European Institute, LSE)

Professor Damian Grimshaw (King’s Business School)

CHAIR

Dr Alen Toplišek (European & International Studies, KCL)