Can a monetary union work without financial solidarity? Is financial solidarity only legitimate when there is empathy between the states sharing a single currency? And does public opinion allow for the solidarity the EU’s redistributive policies demand? This summer’s heated debate on the coronavirus recovery fund showed the public sentiments’ strong effect on the course and outcome of European negotiations. According to new research, however, there is space for governments to shape public opinion. In fact, national leadership is necessary in order to find the solidarity necessary for the EU’s survival.
The panelists will answer these questions based on the findings of PLATO, a large research project on EU crisis and legitimacy, and discuss the issue of legitimacy and solidarity.
Speakers
- Chris Lord is professor at ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo. He is scientific coordinator of PLATO and co-editor of a forthcoming book from the project with the working title Legitimacy recovered? The politics of legitimation in the European Union. His fields of expertise include the study of democracy, legitimacy and the European Union.
- Joris Melman is PhD candidate at ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo. His PhD project investigates public opinion on the euro through focus-group research in France, Italy and The Netherlands. He holds an MSc in Political Science from Leiden University and an MA in Philosophy from the University of Amsterdam.
- Waltraud Schelkle is professor of political economy at the European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science. She published The Political Economy of Monetary Solidarity: Understanding the Euro Experiment in 2017 and currently works on the ERC-funded SOLID project on sovereignty, solidarity and identity in Europe post-2008.
- Johannes Lindner works as Head of the EU Institutions and Fora Division in the Directorate General International and European Relations at the European Central Bank. Between 2005 and 2008 he was Counsellor to Ms Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell, Member of the Executive Board. From 2008 and 2012, he worked as Adviser in the Oversight Division in the Directorate General Payments and Market Infrastructure.
Moderator
- Cinzia Alcidi, Senior Research Fellow and Head of Economic Policy Unit, CEPS at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels.
The project
The Post-Crisis Legitimacy in Europe (PLATO) is a European training network bringing together 15 PhD researchers and senior scholars from across Europe to study the implications of the 2008 financial crisis for the EU’s legitimacy. It is funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (2017-2020). CEPS is one of 20 partner institutions.
This event will take place via ZOOM and is free and open to the public, but you must register to gain access to the meeting. Once registered, you will receive instructions on how to join this event.
