The Future of European Integration after 20 Years of the Euro

From the USA, Moscovici called on Berlin to spend more on investment! Pierre Moscovici, European commissioner for economic and financial affairs, taxation and customs, led off the event “The Future of European Integration after 20 Years of the Euro” at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) in Washington. The panel of experts following his speech included Marco Buti, director-general for economic and financial affairs at the European Commission; Patrick Honohan, PIIE nonresident senior fellow; Charles Kupchan, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations; Rebecca Patterson, chief investment officer at Bessemer Trust; and Jeromin Zettelmeyer, PIIE Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow.

Pierre Moscovici has been the European commissioner for economic and financial affairs, taxation and customs since 2014. He also served as member of the French National Assembly. He was the French minister for economy and finance during 2012–14.

Marco Buti has been director-general for economic and financial affairs at the European Commission since December 2008, after a 6-month period as acting director-general. He held various posts as an economist in the Directorate‑General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN) department and the Commissioner’s cabinet (private office) before taking up a post as an economic adviser to the Commission president in 2002–03.

Patrick Honohan joined PIIE in March 2016 as nonresident senior fellow. He was the governor of the Central Bank of Ireland and member of the governing council of the European Central Bank from September 2009 to November 2015.

Charles Kupchan is senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is also professor of international affairs in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and department of government at Georgetown University.

Rebecca Patterson is chief investment officer at Bessemer Trust. She is a member of the firm’s management committee. Prior to joining Bessemer, she worked at J.P. Morgan as chief markets strategist for asset management.

Jeromin Zettelmeyer was appointed the Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow at PIIE in January 2019. Previously he served as senior fellow at the Institute since September 2016 and as nonresident senior fellow during 2013–14. From 2014 until September of 2016, he served as director-general for economic policy at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, reporting to Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel.

The Future of European Integration after 20 Years of the Euro

“Germany is a country with fiscal surpluses now. And with huge external surpluses. So it has huge capacities to finance more investment, for the country itself and for the sake of the euro zone,” Moscovici said.

Germany’s double fiscal and external surpluses are an imbalance that is damaging to the euro zone and not sustainable in the long run.
Pierre Moscovici

“It is not about creating inflation, just about financing necessary investment and growth for them and for us,” he said.

Debating the EURO and Eurozone reforms!