Bruegel Annual Meetings | 2-3 September 2026
As Europe faces defining choices, the Bruegel Annual Meetings 2026 will explore the trade-offs shaping its future
Opening of 2026 Bruegel Annual Meetings
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Speakers
Jeromin Zettelmeyer
Bruegel Director
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Keynote speech and Q&A
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Speakers
Jeromin Zettelmeyer
Bruegel Director
ChairTaras Kachka
Ambassador, Mission of Ukraine to the European Union
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Session 1: Can climate policy survive?
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In the face of war, political polarisation and geopolitical tension, the world is less ...
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In the face of war, political polarisation and geopolitical tension, the world is less concerned about climate policy and much less able to implement it effectively, while climate change is progressing faster than only three years ago. In this session we will discuss what can be done to rescue, invigorate, and improve climate policy - both mitigation and adaptation, at the EU and the international level.
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Speakers
Georg Zachmann
Bruegel Senior Fellow
ChairJan Dusik
Deputy Director-General, DG Climate Action, European Commission
Julia Maris
Executive Vice President, Engie
Pierre Wunsch
Governor, National Bank of Belgium
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Session 2a: Mapping Europe’s clean energy and industrial transformation
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The global market for clean technologies is expanding rapidly, reshaping industrial compe...
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The global market for clean technologies is expanding rapidly, reshaping industrial competition and international value chains. By 2025, the clean technology market is estimated at over $1 trillion globally and growing 20 percent year-on-year. As countries compete to attract clean manufacturing, new comparative advantages are emerging, such as access to abundant, cheap clean electricity. These shifts will have major consequences for Europe’s industrial geography.
This panel marks the launch of a new Bruegel book, Europe’s New Energy Industrial Atlas, which represents a first attempt to map how the clean energy transition is reshaping industry across Europe. Drawing on data and visualisations from the Atlas, this panel will examine where Europe’s new industrial opportunities are emerging and what role policy should play in supporting them.
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Speakers
Simone Tagliapietra
Bruegel Senior Fellow
ChairLaura Cozzi
Director of Sustainability, Technology and Outlooks, International Energy Agency (IEA)
Céline Gauer
Director-General, European Commission, DG ENER
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Session 2b: What role can tax systems play in bolstering European competitiveness?
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For much of the past decade, tax policy debates in Europe have fo...
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For much of the past decade, tax policy debates in Europe have focused on raising revenues, tackling tax avoidance and evasion, and ensuring that multinational companies pay their fair share. Today, however, competitiveness has moved back to the top of the European policy agenda. Can tax systems support investment, innovation and growth while continuing to deliver sustainable revenues?
This question has gained renewed prominence through recent European Commission initiatives and the launch of the EU Tax Compass, a new branch of the EU Tax Observatory led by Bruegel aimed at informing policymaking and stimulating a broader European debate on taxation and competitiveness. This session will explore how tax policy can contribute to a more competitive Europe and how policymakers should navigate the trade-offs between competitiveness, fairness and revenue.
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This session is organised in the context of the EU Tax Compass project (EUTO-COMP). The project is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.
Speakers
Rocio Bermudez Becerra
Transfer Pricing & Tax Policy Senior Manager, Repsol
Fabrizia Lapecorella
Deputy Secretary General, OECD
Gerassimos Thomas
Director-General, European Commission, DG TAXUD
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Session 2c: Can the chasm between EU privacy rules and economic reality be bridged?
The EU GDPR requires informed consent from the data subject before a service provider can access personal data. But the stream of consent pop-ups is an irritant for consumers rather than a meanin...
The EU GDPR requires informed consent from the data subject before a service provider can access personal data. But the stream of consent pop-ups is an irritant for consumers rather than a meaningful tool to inform them of potential cost and benefits of sharing personal data. A Bruegel research project explored a variety of policy options to bridge that information gap, though none of these are really effective. Recently proposed AI-related modifications to consent have stirred considerable controversy.
This seminar is technical in nature and aimed at a specialist audience. During the session, new Bruegel research will be presented, followed by remarks from select commentators and an open discussion with participants.
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Speakers
Bertin Martens
Bruegel Senior Fellow
ChairKoen Gorissen
Chairman, Belgian Data Protection Authority
Townsend Feehan
CEO, IAB Europe
Konrad Kollnig
Associate Professor, Maastricht University
Session 3a: The macroeconomic implications of the Middle East conflict
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The Middle East conflict has disrupted oil production and trade through the Strai...
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The Middle East conflict has disrupted oil production and trade through the Strait of Hormuz, increasing energy and commodity prices, market volatility, shipping costs, and the risk of supply bottlenecks. These shocks can raise production costs across global value chains and weaken economic activity. Central banks face a difficult choice: tighten monetary policy to contain inflationary pressures or look through potentially temporary supply shocks. This panel will discuss how the European Central Bank and other major central banks should respond to heightened uncertainty, the implications for euro and US dollar exchange rates, and the role of fiscal policy in mitigating adverse economic effects.
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Speakers
Nick Hill
Managing Director, Credit Strategy & Guidance function, Moody's
Lucrezia Reichlin
Bruegel Non-resident Fellow
Dorothée Rouzet
Chief Economist, French Treasury
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Session 3b: Europe through the eyes of global business
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This session will explore how Europe is perceived by leading multinational companies ...
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This session will explore how Europe is perceived by leading multinational companies from outside the EU. It will bring together global stakeholders to share their perspectives on the EU’s regulatory environment, including recent and ongoing efforts in deregulation and regulatory reform. The discussion will provide an external, business-oriented view on Europe’s competitiveness and the impact of its policy framework on global operations and investment decisions.
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Speakers
Kim Jørgensen
Head of Institutional Relations (EMEA), Temasek
Karen Massin
Head Government Affairs & Public Policy - EU Institutions, Google
Anton Mifsud-Bonnici
Adviser to CEO, Adani New Industries Limited
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Session 3c: Anticipating Europe’s care transformation: longevity risk and health uncertainty
An ongoing Bruegel project explores how the rising demand for long-term care will reshape families, labour markets and economic structures. Through data-driven modelling and forward-looking polic...
An ongoing Bruegel project explores how the rising demand for long-term care will reshape families, labour markets and economic structures. Through data-driven modelling and forward-looking policy design, the project aims to support inclusive and proactive responses to the coming care wave. In this session, we will focus on the latest results from the different project pillars, and discuss how to better measure care needs moving forward.
This seminar is technical in nature and aimed at a specialist audience. During the session, new Bruegel research will be presented, followed by remarks from select commentators and an open discussion with participants.
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This seminar is organised in the context of the BB-Future project. The project “The Care Wave And The Future Of The Baby Boomers And Their Children” (BB-FUTURE) has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 101093849.
Speakers
Dana-Carmen Bachmann
Head of Unit, DG EMPL, European Commission
Adelina Comas-Herrera
Director, Global Observatory of Long-Term Care
Mike Morrissey
Associate Vice President, Global Public Policy, Europe & Canada Hub Leader, MSD
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Session 4a: How can Europe maximise the impact of its rearmament spending?
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European defence spending has increased strongly since Russia's full-scale invasion of ...
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European defence spending has increased strongly since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Four years on, it is time to critically evaluate whether governments set the right priorities and spend in a way to maximise value for taxpayers. This is a question of technological priorities, the design of procurement processes, the structure of defence markets and ultimately the structuring of defence in its own right. This panel aims to move the debate on all dimensions in discussion with military, fiscal and European public policy experts.
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Speakers
Benjamin Haddad
Minister Delegate for Europe, France
Andrius Kubilius
European Commissioner for Defence and Space
Stephanie Lingemann
Vice President Air, Helsing
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Session 4b: Can AI regulation balance harm mitigation and innovation incentives?
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The EU is entering uncharted territory. The AI Act — the world's most ambitious A...
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The EU is entering uncharted territory. The AI Act — the world's most ambitious AI rulebook — will soon be enforced, but no one yet knows how enforcement will work in practice. At the same time, the Digital Omnibus and the simplification agenda are loosening timelines and lightening obligations, partly in response to competitive pressure from the United States. The tension is very clear: being overly cautious risks harming innovation incentives and falling behind jurisdictions with fewer restrictions; being too lenient, on the other hand, could expose citizens to harms we cannot yet fully understand. This session brings together regulators, industry leaders, economists, and legal scholars to examine whether the EU can simplify its rules without backtracking and enforce them without hindering innovation.
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Speakers
Mario Mariniello
Bruegel Senior Fellow
ChairOwen Larter
Senior Director and Global Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Google DeepMind
Sebastian Hallensleben
Co-Chair, ONE AI, OECD
Chair, Joint Technical Committee AI, CEN-CENELEC JTC 21
Lilian Edwards
Professor of Law, Innovation & Society, Newcastle Law School
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Session 4c: Reimagining enlargement policy: the outlook to 2030
The session will highlight key insights from recent Bruegel research on EU enlargement, starting with a closer look at the barriers that still limit access to the Single Market in the Western Bal...
The session will highlight key insights from recent Bruegel research on EU enlargement, starting with a closer look at the barriers that still limit access to the Single Market in the Western Balkan region. It will then explore how far EU candidate countries have progressed in adopting EU-accession related reforms, including those relevant to trade.
This seminar is technical in nature and aimed at a specialist audience. During the session, new Bruegel research will be presented, followed by remarks from select commentators and an open discussion with participants.
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Speakers
Heather Grabbe
Bruegel Senior Fellow
ChairNina Vujanović
Bruegel Research Fellow
Wolf Heinrich Reuter
Chief Economist, Director Economic Analysis & Research Department, Oesterreichische Nationalbank
Sanja Madzarevic-Sujster
Senior Economist, Western Balkans and Moldova, Fiscal Policy and Growth Practice, World Bank
Session 5a: Future-proofing European banking
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At this session we will explore how Europe should manage its banking system, the backb...
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At this session we will explore how Europe should manage its banking system, the backbone of the EU financial system and necessary infrastructure for economic growth. How do European lenders stack up globally? Is it possible to simplify without reducing the quality of supervision? How can banks and capital market participants work together? Join us for a discussion of key considerations and upcoming policy.
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Speakers
Rebecca Christie
Bruegel Senior Fellow
ChairClaudia Buch
Chair of the Supervisory Board, European Central Bank
Jorge Sicilia Serrano
Chief Economist, Spain, BBVA Group
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Session 5b: The European frog: still "slow-boiling"?
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Gradually increasing growth and technology lags have popularised the slow-boiling...
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Gradually increasing growth and technology lags have popularised the slow-boiling frog analogy for Europe: the frog could jump out of the kettle and save itself, but it will not. These days, that analogy seems quaint. Europe faces multiple imminent threats. Will it still not jump? What priorities does the EU need to set to face the multiple threats? What does this imply for what public money should be spent on, and how it should be spent?
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Speakers
Jeromin Zettelmeyer
Bruegel Director
ChairCarlos Cuerpo
First Vice-President of the Government; Minister of Economy, Trade and Business, Spain
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Session 6a: European trade policy beyond FTAs: what is feasible without the US and China?
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To the extent that trade barriers are still being reduced, this is happening mainly th...
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To the extent that trade barriers are still being reduced, this is happening mainly through bilateral or regional FTAs. Meaningful WTO reform would require the cooperation of the US and China; neither is in the cards. Are there feasible paths to strengthening rules-based trade that go beyond ratifying and extending FTA? Can we conceive of a “multilaterally minded plurilateralism”; or a multi-speed WTO?
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Speakers
Ignacio García Bercero
Bruegel Senior Fellow
ChairDitte Juul Jørgensen
Director-General, European Commission, DG TRADE
Bernd Lange
Chair, International Trade Committee, European Parliament
Clare Kelly
New Zealand Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the WTO; Chair, WTO General Council
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Session 6b: Can Europe become more “Schumpeterian” and how?
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European economies have generally been less dynamic and less innovative than the United...
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European economies have generally been less dynamic and less innovative than the United States, although with large variations within Europe. At this session we would like to discuss: what policies need to change—from competition and bankruptcy law and practice to labour, product, and financial markets—to encourage faster exit by inefficient firms, and easier entry and scale-up of innovative ones? Which of these might work politically?
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Speakers
Reinhilde Veugelers
Bruegel Senior Fellow
ChairRomán Arjona
Chief Economist, European Commission, DG GROW
Maria Cristina Bifulco
Chief Strategy Officer, Prysmian
Anna Kortis
Partner, McKinsey & Company
Martin Raiser
Senior Representative for European Economic Cooperation, World Bank
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Session 1a: Europe's digital sovereignty: lessons from China's AI quest
A roundtable with kick-off questions from Bruegel's Senior fellows Alicia García-Herrero and Bertin Martens.
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A roundtable with kick-off questions from Bruegel's Senior fellows Alicia García-Herrero and Bertin Martens.
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Speakers
Bertin Martens
Bruegel Senior Fellow
Session 1b: Global monetary issues
The discussion will explore the evolving global monetary landscape, including the changing roles of the US dollar, the euro, other convertible currencies, the renminbi, gold, and crypto-assets/st...
The discussion will explore the evolving global monetary landscape, including the changing roles of the US dollar, the euro, other convertible currencies, the renminbi, gold, and crypto-assets/stablecoins.
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Speakers
Livia Chitu
Senior economist, Directorate General Research, European Central Bank
Mark Sobel
Chief Economist and Vice Chair, OMFIF
Session 2a: Can the EU's better regulation agenda deliver competitiveness?
One of the priorities for the European Commission for its current term is to simplify EU policies and laws, and to ensure they are implemented better. The aim is to boost competitiveness, r...
One of the priorities for the European Commission for its current term is to simplify EU policies and laws, and to ensure they are implemented better. The aim is to boost competitiveness, reinforce legal certainty, and deliver faster and more effective responses to pressing needs. But how suited for this purpose is the plan? In this session we take stock of the European Commission's simplification plan and assess its strengths and weaknesses.
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Speakers
Jeromin Zettelmeyer
Bruegel Director
ChairDorota Denning
Member of Cabinet, Cabinet Dombrovskis, European Commission
Anthony Gooch Gálvez
Secretary General, European Round Table for Industry (ERT)
Zach Meyers
Director of Research, Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE)
Session 2b: What would make the European Economy secure in 2030?
Geopolitical turbulence, energy crisis and economic coercion have focused policy debates on urgent measures to maintain short-term economic security. This distracts attention from fundamental shi...
Geopolitical turbulence, energy crisis and economic coercion have focused policy debates on urgent measures to maintain short-term economic security. This distracts attention from fundamental shifts in the comparative advantages of the European economy that will create a different map of energy sources, innovative sectors and trade relationships over the medium term. What would it take for the European economy to be secure in a world of resource competition, military conflicts and climate impacts in 2030?
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Speakers
Heather Grabbe
Bruegel Senior Fellow
ChairPhilippa Sigl-Glöckner
Managing Director, Dezernat Zukunft