Fiscal Matters

This seminar will close the week of debate, #FiscalMatters. The discussion will be dedicated to the new economic governance and a possible revised fiscal framework to put the European Union on the right track for the future.

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About us & Why

We are FiscalMatters - a group of civil society organisations, think tanks and trade unions.

27September2021

Fiscal Matters Launch Event: Fiscal Policy a New Era?

This pandemic is one of the greatest health, social, and economic shocks of our lifetimes. The policy agenda set in the emergency and recovery phase this year will have profound socioeconomic effects, determining the shape of our economy long after the pandemic is over. Policies need to be consistent with the Green Deal and a socially just transition and build a well-being economy that works for people and the planet. Massive, well-designed investments are needed over the long run.

Capacity building workshop 1: Introduction to fiscal policy

Money matters. Whether we are talking about climate action, the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, or the European Green Deal, there always comes a time when someone says “fine, but who will pay for it?”. Understanding fiscal policy is key to engaging in these processes. The first of these two capacity-building workshops will look at the basics of fiscal policy. What is fiscal policy and why is it important? Where are we now? How did we get here?

Frugal or visionary: the Netherlands in the European fiscal debate (in Dutch)

Time

16:00 - 17:00

Location

Online and Pakhuis de Zwijger

Organiser

Sustainable Finance Lab

Bezuinigen of investeren in een veerkrachtige, groene en digitale economie? Voor die keuze staat Europa met haar begrotingsbeleid. Waarom stelt Nederland zich eigenlijk op als zuinige boekhouder en maken wij geen heldere keuzes? Ontmoet deze avond de voorzitter van de Commissie Europese Economie Roel Beetsma en hoor meer over het rapport van zijn commissie: Kleur bekennen voor een stabiele en veerkrachtige Europese economie. Met ook ING-hoofdeconoom Marieke Blom, hoogleraar Harald Benink en jonge econoom en auteur Jasper Lukkezen.

Fiscal and monetary cocktails – optimal mix at the lower bound?

NEF, Positive Money EU, Finanzwende

For over a decade, conventional monetary policy has remained at the effective lower bound. Yet, after many years of unconventional monetary stimulus alongside fiscal consolidation, hopes that inflation would eventually recover to rates closer to 2% have consistently fallen wide of the mark. These conditions have prompted significant debate around what the optimal fiscal and monetary policy mix should be in the context of the recovery. What are the lessons from recovery of the 2008 GFC and ensuing recessions?

28September2021

The future of the EU economic governance framework: a cross-party debate

Europe will be revising the rules coordinating national fiscal and economic policies in the next months. Against the background of a profoundly changed macroeconomic and social context, this is an opportunity to ensure that European economic policies in the next decade enable and incentivise the just transformation of our economies and societies towards decarbonisation and nature protection.

This event aims to trigger an exchange with different perspectives across political parties on the following questions:

Fiscal Policy - a new economic paradigm?

NEF and Finance Watch

A year ago, as the catastrophic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic began to wreak havoc across Europe, the European Commission suspended the stability and growth pact (SGP), a set of rules designed to ensure that countries in the EU pursue sound public finances and co-ordinate their fiscal policies. And in Spring earlier this year, the commission announced the rules would not be reinstated until 2023. The suspension of the fiscal rules due to the pandemic provides a welcome opportunity to rethink them.

What if there is no fault in default?

This event is in Dutch.

Who will repay the debts incurred during the corona crisis? Are we going back to the austerity? In this online panel discussion, we examine how we can best deal with the European debt mountain.

The European Central Bank (ECB) pumped thousands of billions into the economy since corona came round. Government interventions were necessary, but too much ended up with those who were already rich. If the poorest now pay off those debts, inequality will explode even further.

Tax reform for the Green Deal

Time

15:00 - 17:00

Organiser

NEF, Institute European and Environmental Policy (IEEP)

Tax policy across the EU is currently mis-aligned with the objectives of the Green Deal. Taxes increase government revenues, curb aggregate demand, discourage undesirable social and environmentally damaging activities, free-up spare capacity, and can help reduce inequality - among other things.

29September2021

Reform of Fiscal Rules – Lessons Learned?

AK EUROPA, ÖGB Europabüro

Many EU Member States are still suffering from the austerity policies after the financial and economic crises of 2008/09. In the current COVID-19 crisis, the European Union is choosing a different path. The recovery plan NextGeneration EU focuses on stimulating the recovery instead of establishing a rigorous austerity policy. The approval of the recovery plan for Europe was a major breakthrough on the path to reforming the economic governance.

The Frugal Four and the European Fiscal Rules: Discipline or expansion?

Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, Sustainable Finance Lab, NEF

The Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, and Sweden - the so-called frugal four - have been championing fiscal discipline for the last decade. Gernot Blümel - the Austrian finance minister - has called his peers from Northern European countries, including the Baltics and the Netherlands, to form a political alliance ahead of the European Commission’s consultation on reforming the fiscal rules. What should these rules look like? Should there be fiscal discipline or expansion in the future? How will the new rules benefit the citizens of the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden?

Capacity building workshop 2: The EU fiscal framework: Myths & Opportunities

CAN Europe, European Youth Forum, Finance Watch

This capacity building workshop builds on the previous one held on 27 September. It goes deeper into the EU fiscal framework, looking at where we are now. How did we get here? Why is reforming the EU fiscal framework important for climate action and a just transition? What are the challenges - myths to debunk and actual challenges? What are the implications/avenues for civil society and social and environmental activists?

Moderation: Isabelle Brachet (CAN Europe)

A Return to “Normal”? Fiscal Futures in Post-Pandemic Europe

ACES (Amsterdam Centre for European Studies)

The pandemic and the associated lockdowns produced the deepest and most disruptive downturn in the EU since World War II. This prompted the Council to lift all constraints on debt and deficits embedded in the European fiscal framework. Now that a post-pandemic Europe is on the rise, we explore what should be her fiscal future: a return to “normal” or a leap to something new?

30September2021

EU fiscal rules and the fight against climate change (in French)

Greentervention & FNH

Cet événement en ligne, dont la langue sera le français, vise à souligner l'importance du processus de révision budgétaire de l'UE pour toute personne intéressée par les objectifs du Green Deal.

Capacity Building Workshop 3: How to reform the EU fiscal framework?

If left unreformed, the EU’s fiscal framework will prevent us from reaching environmental and social targets, while at the same time crippling the Covid recovery.

Fiscal Policy - Inequality, Productivity and the Green Transition nexus

Productivity is an enabler of higher wages and better living standards. In view of a suite of environmental challenges – from climate change, species extinction and resource scarcity – being able to do more (or at least the same) with less also represents an important tool in the project to embed advanced economies within sustainable planetary limits.

European fiscal rules and the fiscal framework for Germany - what next?

Forum New Economy, NEF

From “schwarze null”, to the “debt brake”, to Europe’s fiscal rules, to the European governance review - what’s next for Germany. Having just finished national elections, what needs to be on the agenda for the new German government? What should the newly elected German government be taking into consideration when designing its fiscal framework? As one Europe’s most influential actors, what role will and should the newly elected government in Germany play in contributing to the Governance review?

Fiscal Matters

Debate on Europe’s fiscal future

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