01-02-2017
This conference will take place on 24 February 2017 at the Bruges Campus of the College of Europe (Auditorium 1, Verversdijk 16, College of Europe, Bruges). Registration is required on the College of Europe’s website.
After the global financial crisis threatened the breakdown of the international financial system, the euro area came under threat. The countries collectively referred to as the PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain) suffered from severe market pressure that resulted in bailout programmes financed by the euro area, EU member states, and the IMF that were accompanied by strict conditionality. The objective of this conference is to investigate how countries have fared politically and economically after embarking on their adjustment programme. For countries that have exited their programme, were their respective exits timely or premature? Had the conditionality programmes contributed to long-term sustainability and provided the necessary foundation for future economic growth? Have the respective governments followed policies that are broadly consistent with those advocated by these conditionality programmes? What about the popular backlash against the austerity that accompanied them? Finally, what is the broader political legacy of the bailout programmes?
Programme
13:30 Conference registration
14:00-14:15 Welcome address by Rector Jӧrg Monar, College of Europe
15:00 Keynote address by Istvan Pal Szekely, Director, DG ECFIN, European Commission
15:00-16:00 Panel 1 The Institutional perspective: Conditionality and its aftermath
Chair: Michele Chang, College of Europe
Daniel Daco, European Commission
Gabriel Glӧckler, European Central Bank
Silvia Merler, Bruegel
16:00-16:30 Coffee break
16:30-18:00 Panel 2 The national perspective: Did the adjustment programmes help or harm?
Chair: Eric De Souza, College of Europe
Kevin Cardiff, European Court of Auditors
Federico Steinberg, Real Institute Elcano
Francisco Torres, London School of Economics
Georges Pagoulatos, Athens University of Economics and Business
18:00-18:10 Closing remarks by Michele Chang, College of Europe