Expert Forum – Liberal White Book Europe 2030
11 September 2020, 09h30 – 14h40 (CEST), Zoom Meeting
ABOUT THE EVENT
Applying Liberal principles to potential Covid-19 influences on re-shaping globalisation: a game changer for the political drive to greater European integration?
Free trade and open competition are the hallmarks of the liberal approach to trade but the Great Financial Crash of 2007/9 halted the relative rise in world trade. Now, the `Covid Crash’ threatens to reverse global trade due to restrictions on global supply chains - for national security reasons as well as reliability of supply. Can the EU stand against that trend – most importantly in its home market?
Are there different factors at work in goods markets and services as the Services Directive stopped short of a comprehensive opening of markets? Will banking union and capital markets union fill in two of the biggest gaps? Will the Covid Crash provide the political will to move forward by building on the institutional reforms of the Next Generation plan?
In the light of the growing climate crisis, how will free trade contribute to the net-zero targets given current norms of production / consumption / capital? Will there have to be a shift to cross-border sustainability via tactical implementation of a climate agenda that clearly de-risks the economy yet captures value through open geopolitical collaboration by public and private sector operations? Can it accelerate practical, integrated action that over-achieves against current targets in terms of both investment and innovation at the nexus of hard and soft systems in a manner that is both just and trustworthy?
With the next European Parliament elections due in 2024, the time has come to think about Internal Market and Trade and to develop and discuss liberal ideas for its further development looking ahead to the year 2030. This Expert Forum brings together experts from all over Europe for an open debate about the EU’s Internal Market and Trade policy.
Date
Friday, 11 September 2020
Time
9:30 - 14:40 BST
Cost
Free