Current issues in evaluating structual reforms within the Lisbon process

André Sapir puts forward some comments and recommendations about the Lisbon Methodology (LIME) Working Group. This Policy Contribution was presented at the first meeting of LIMEâ??S Working Group on 1 February 2007.

Some ideas for reforming the community anti-dumping instrument

André Sapir produced this short paper at the request of Commissioner Mandelson for the Expert Seminar on Trade Defence Instruments at the European Commission.

Globalisation and the reform of European social models

This Policy Contribution by André Sapir was presented to the ECOFIN informal meeting in Manchester. See also the Policy Brief based on this paper.

Eastern European lessons for the southern Mediterranean

The economic profiles of southern Mediterranean countries (SMCs) bear some resemblance to those of south-eastern European countries and some former Soviet republics at the beginning of their economic transition in 1990. The SMCs resemble less the former communist countries that joined the European Union in 2004. The SMCs are more advanced in terms of market reforms, but less well equipped with human capital and infrastructure, than the former communist countries were in the early 1990s. The EUâ??s willingness to underpin reforms in central and south eastern Europe and hold out the prospect of EU membership contributed to substantial growth, highlighting the long-term value of partnership with the EU. Long-term partnership has so far been absent for the southern Mediterranean countries. The existing Union for the Mediterranean framework is too weak to provide the necessary EU support to domestic reforms in the SMCs, and to ensure the desired stability and prosperity in the region. To encourage a successful transition in the SMCs, a Euro-Mediterranean Economic Area should be established by 2030.

The international monetary system is changing: what opportunities and risks for the euro?

After a thirty-year pause, discussions on the future of the international monetary system (IMS) have restarted. This is partly due to the fact that the IMS has facilitated, or at least not prevented, the economic and financial imbalances that led to the recent crisis. This paper argues that the international position of the US dollar is likely to erode in the coming years, though the speed of the process is uncertain. This will create a demand for other currencies to be used internationally as means of payment and store of value. The most likely candidates for filling the partial vacuum created by the dollarâ??s decline are the euro and the Chinese renminbi. The probability that the renminbi will eventually become one of the worldâ??s key currencies is very high, but the speed of the process is uncertain. As far as the euro is concerned, much will depend on if and how the sovereign debt crisis is resolved. Our view is that the crisis will be dealt with and that it will result in radical steps towards fiscal and financial integration. If such steps are taken, the euro will secure both internal stabilisation and a growing international role.

Weathering the storm- Fair weather versus stormy-weather governance in the euro area

Jean Pisani-Ferry and André Sapir believe that the euro has proved attractive as a fair-weather currency for countries and investors well beyond its borders. But it still remains to be seen if its governance is strong enough for it to succeed as a stormy-weather currency. The authors already detect, howevever, that the crisis shows the euro-area governance system lacks some crucial properties: speed of reaction, policy discretion and centralised decision-making.

Current issues in evaluating structural reforms within the Lisbon Process: Comments and recommendations about the Lisbon Methodology (LIME) Working Group

André Sapir puts forward some comments and recommendations about the Lisbon Methodology (LIME) Working Group. This Policy Contribution was presented at the first meeting of LIME'S Working Group on 1 February 2007

Banking Crisis Management in the EU: An Interim Assessment

Director Jean Pisani-Ferry and Senior Fellow André Sapir provide an in-depth examination of the the banking crisis in the European Union, starting with a discussion of the pre-crisis banking landscape and including an assessment of the management of the crisis and the lessons learned going forward. The authors argue that the EU was institutionally ill-prepared to manage the crisis, with the response characterised by ad hoc actions and a lack of transparency. They say, however, that coordination has remarkably not been impeded by a divide within the euro area and policy performance has been better than expected given the sub-optimal nature of EU financial institutional arrangements. 

High public debt in euro-area countries: comparing Belgium and Italy. Bruegel Policy Contribution Issue n˚15 | September 2018

This Policy Contribution looks at the evolution of public debt in Belgium and Italy since 1990 and uses the debt dynamics equation to explain the contrasting evolution in the two countries in the run-up to the introduction of the euro, during the early years of the euro and since the beginning of the crisis, arguing that the euro could have been used also by Italy to undertake sufficiently large fiscal adjustment