Constitutional Demands and Dynamics in EU Fiscal and Economic Governance

14 June 2025

🎟️ Event Programme
đź“… Date: Saturday, 14 June 2025
đź“Ť Location: OVGU Magdeburg

Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg hosted the third PROSPER Network Event as part of the university’s Long Night of the Sciences. In light of the EU’s ongoing renegotiation of its multiannual financial framework, this event brought together scholars and practitioners to discuss the implications of current geopolitical shifts and fiscal challenges. Drawing on the Draghi and Monti Reports, two focused panels explored the political, social, economic, and legal dimensions of EU budget reform. The workshop aimed to foster dialogue, spark fresh ideas, and lay the groundwork for future collaboration.

Programme:

14.00 – 15.30 // Panel 1: Reshuffling the Multilevel Setup

  • Can the EU lending architecture pull it off? – David Howarth (University of Luxembourg)
  • What are the risks of (non) spending? – Fabian Amtenbrink (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
  • The end of multilevel alliances? – Eva G. Heidbreder (Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg)
  • How shaky is EU stability and growth? – Tiziano Zgaga (University of Konstanz)

15.15 – 16.45 // Panel 2: Instruments in Fiscal & Economic Governance

Fiscal integration and responses in the economic governances in face of deep cutting structural changes offer the framework the EU develops responses in. Concretely, these responses are shaped in policy instruments. Taking a delving into selected instruments: how well do the instruments created fare, which adaptations or additional instruments are needed? We discuss these questions to pinpoint the operational side of fiscal and economic integration.

  • The European Semester and its Implications – Johannes Gerken (Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg)
  • How to manage debt on the EU-level? – Inga Aenne Feldmann (Freie Universität Berlin)
  • How to regulate EU foreign subsidies in industrial policy? – Elettra Bargellini (Dublin City University)
  • The regional dimension in flux? – Ian Cooper (Dublin City University)

Keynote Event

18.30 // Main lecture Hall OVGU Faculty of Humanities

Panel Discussion: Eva Heidbreder (Magdeburg) / Tiziano Zgaga (Konstanz)

Globale Herausforderungen für die Europäische Union: Wie sollen wir das bezahlen?