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How satisfied are citizens with the distribution of power at European level? Can acceptance for the EU increase by making decision-making processes more transparent? These questions were discussed at the ZEW Lunch Debate on “Public Support and Institutional Reform – What Is the Right Way to Go?”, which took place on 20 February 2020 in Brussels at the State Representation of Baden-Württemberg to the European Union. A general consensus was that people wanted to have a say in Europe, including through their national governments.

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Be it the euro crisis, Brexit, the rise of populist parties in the European Parliament, or growing divisions in Europe – European voters increasingly question how the EU is tackling such problems. But what is the reason for the loss of confidence in the EU’s problem-solving ability? One explanation for this could be the way the institutions operate. EU citizens are critical of the way decisions are taken at EU level. One must also ask whether the Commission’s exclusive right of legislative initiative in almost all policy areas is still sustainable. What is the public opinion on a bicameral system, consisting of the Council of the European Union and the EU Parliament? And regarding the European Court of Justice, does the public support the primacy of EU versus national norms? Finally, would the EU find greater acceptance in the Member States if an institutional reform were carried out?

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Digital change is a highly dynamic process that affects Europe’s labour markets. Polarisation and inequality are two of the greatest challenges to be tackled: while activities involving interactive and analytical skills will be able to withstand change, routine tasks are more likely to be automated in the future. So far, automation processes in companies have created more jobs than they have destroyed. However, it is important to make and keep people fit for the job market of the future through targeted training and further education. These were the key messages of the most recent ZEW Lunch Debate on 23 October 2019 at the Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg to the European Union in Brussels.

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If the European Union wishes to integrate its Eastern Member States into the eurozone, it will have to put together a comprehensive reform package for the European Economic and Monetary Union that is above all credible. While the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries are generally not opposed to the euro and – in terms of the Maastricht criteria – are in a better position than other euro states, there has so far been a prevailing scepticism with regard to joining the eurozone. The main reason for this is that the benefits that the CEE states derive from eurozone membership do not exceed the costs. These issues were the focus of the most recent ZEW Lunch Debate.

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What does the future of the euro and the European Monetary Union look like? How do EU Member States perceive the discussions surrounding reform plans? And which positions do Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries hold? On 5 June 2019, one week after the European elections, the participants of the ZEW Lunch Debate will discuss the future of the eurozone in Brussels. The focus of the debate is on the perspective of CEE Member States of the EU.

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The European sovereign debt crisis has underlined the economic and financial vulnerability of the euro area. In the event of another crisis, public debt can quickly rise to an unsustainable level. Hence, alternatives are needed to mitigate future debt crisis. One possibility would be to introduce a sovereign debt restructuring mechanism (SDRM), a kind of international insolvency procedure. The Lunch Debate on 28 March 2019 in the Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg to the European Union in Brussels organised by the ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research in cooperation with the research network EconPol Europe, brought together experts who discussed this pressing issue.

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ZEW was happy to organise a Lunch Debate, entitled “Beyond Horizon 2020: Translating Public Research into Innovation“, at the Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg in Brussels. With the ninth EU Framework Programme “Horizon Europe” currently being subject of extensive discussion at European level, the event was met with great interest due to its high topicality.

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Innovation is one of the most important driving forces for European economic growth, and ultimately for securing long-term prosperity. The European Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation (R&I) have played a crucial part in this development. In summer 2018, the European Commission put forward the proposal for the next Framework Programme “Horizon Europe”, setting very ambitious goals for the European research agenda. Against this background, the impact of R&I in Europe will be the focus of the next ZEW Lunch Debate, “Beyond Horizon 2020: Translating Public Research into Innovation”, organised by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, and set to take place at the Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg to the European Union in Brussels on 17 October 2018.

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The current debate over the reform of the European Union has come to a head. The European Commission has proposed creating the office of a European Economy and Finance Minister with the aim of streamlining the many complex and fragmented decision-making processes within the European Monetary Union. This and other proposals would, however, likely require the EU Member States to relinquish further sovereignty rights to the EU. How can these reform plans be successfully implemented and what will the Eurozone look like in the future? Does the idea of a European Finance Minister have potential and what obstacles might stand in its way? These are just a few of the questions addressed at the ZEW Lunch Debate “Reforming the Eurozone: Prospects and Challenges”, an event organised by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, in collaboration with the research network EconPol Europe. The event, held on 2 May 2018 at the Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg to the European Union in Brussels, brought together experts from the worlds of politics and research to discuss this pressing issue facing Europe.

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ZEW made its own contribution to the debate surrounding EU reform and the negotiations over the upcoming seven-year Financial Framework for the years 2021 to 2027 with the Lunch Debate “The EU Budget: How Europe Can Deliver” held on 24 January 2018 in Brussels. This particular ZEW Lunch Debate was hosted jointly with the Bertelsmann Stiftung. If the high level of interest in the event is anything to go by, this topic has struck a particular chord with the public.

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