Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Event Report
Citation preview
BRATISLAVA 2014REPORT
ABOUT THE EIF 04
DAY 1
WELCOME AND OPENING 06TomiHuhtanenandMikulášDzurinda
KEYNOTE 08KeynoteAddressbyAndrejKiska
PANEL I 10BlazingtheTrailtoJobsandGrowth:InnovatorsandEntrepreneurs
PANEL II 16CentralandEasternEurope:NewEUEconomicTigers?
PANEL III 22GoingDigital:NewBusinessforNewSocietalHorizons
PANEL IV 28OldAlliesandNewFriends:TransatlanticPartnersandFast-GrowingGlobalEconomies
DAY 1: CONCLUSIONS 34ClosingRemarksbyAntonioLópez-IstúrizWhite
DINNER SPEECH 36DinnerspeechbyMikulášDzurinda
Contents
DAY 2
OPENING 38OpeningAddressbyJosephDaul
PANEL V 40EuropeanInnovationUnion.WinningtheRaceforCompetitiveness
PANEL VI 46BankingonTomorrow:FinancialInnovationinaPost-crisisEU
PANEL VII 52East-EastEconomicCooperation.ExportingTransformationModelstoEU’sEasternNeighbourhood
CLOSING OF THE FORUM 60ClosingRemarksbyTomiHuhtanen
SPEAKERS AT THE EIF 62EIF IN THE PRESS 70EIF POLITICAL CARTOONS 72 EIF INTERACTIVE 74 EVENT APP 76 SPONSORS AND WHY SPONSOR US 80CREDITS 82
4About the EconomicIdeas Forum
On16-17October2014theWilfriedMartensCentreforEuropeanStudieshosteditsfifthannualEconomicIde-asForum.Withmorethan200participants,300glo-balviewersvialiveon-linestreamingand40high-levelspeakers,thisyear’sEIFwasagreatsuccess.TheForum,entitled “Innovation and Reform: Setting the GrowthAgenda”,aimedtodiscussthekeyissuesthatwilldeter-mineEurope’sabilitytoreturntosustainable,long-termeconomicgrowth.ItfocusedontopicalthemesdealingwiththevariousaspectsofEurope’srecoveryprocess.These themes revolved around the centrality of inno-vation and entrepreneurship in fostering job creation,sustainingeconomicgrowthandmaintaining theEU’spositioninanincreasinglycompetitiveglobaleconomy.
5
AfurtherthemerunningthroughouttheFo-rumwasthatCentralandEasternEuropeaneconomiesarevitalindrivingEUeconomicgrowth. The staging of the EIF in Bratisla-vasymbolisedtheprogressmadebytheseeconomiesoverthepast25yearsandhigh-lighted Slovakia’s vitally important geopo-litical location. The Forum considered howthe ongoing transformation of these states(from centrally planned to market econo-mies)hasthepotentialtoactasinspirationforthefurthereconomicdevelopmentoftheEU’s eastern neighbours and for fellow EUmemberstatestoengageinmeaningfulre-form.
Following the success of theEconomic Ideas Forums held inHelsinki,Dublin,LondonandMa-drid, the EIF is now recognisedthroughout Europe as an impor-tanteconomicconferencebring-ingtogetherhigh-leveleconomicexperts, EU officials, nationalministers and representativesfromtheworldofbusiness.Everyyear, new ideas and policies arediscussed and debated by high-profileleadersfromallacrossEu-rope.
6
Tomi Huhtanen
TomiHuhtanen,DirectoroftheMartensCentre,welcomedparticipantstotheForum.HenotedthatthepastsixyearshaveconfrontedEuropewithitsmostdifficulteconom-icchallengessincetheaftermathoftheSecondWorldWar.HestressedthattheEU’sactionshavestabilisedtheEuropeaneconomyandensuredthesurvivaloftheEuro.However,theEUhasyettoreturntogrowth.ThiswillbeadifficulttaskthatrequiresarenewedcommitmenttotheEPP’scoreprinciplesof innovation,social justiceandsmartbudgetaryreform.InnovationandentrepreneurshipwillbecentraldriversinEu-rope’srecoveryintheyearsaheadandinthisregardindividualscanmakearealdiffer-ence.Finally,Huhtanenarguedthatwemustbreakoutofthe‘BrusselsBubble’group-thinkanddiscussneweconomicsolutionsinafertileenvironmentsuchasBratislava,whereinnovationandreformareseenascornerstonesofsuccessfuleconomicpolicies.
Welcome
7
Mikuláš Dzurinda
MikulášDzurinda,Presidentof theMartensCentreand formerPrimeMinis-terofSlovakia,openedthe5thEconomicIdeasForuminBratislava.PresidentDzurindaunderlinedthesymbolicsignificanceoftheconferencevenue:em-bodyingbothsuccessfultransitionfromcentrallyplannedtomarketecono-miesandthestrongtiesthatbindCentralandEasternEurope.HeemphasisedtheimportantrolethattheEUplaysinstabilisingcountriesinitsimmediateneighbourhoodthat faceeconomicandpoliticalchallenges.This isparticu-larlyrelevantinlightoftheongoingconflictinUkraine.HestressedthattheEPPfamilywillcontinuetoplayapivotalroleinfightingforthepromotionofsocietiesbasedonadherencetotheruleoflaw,respectfordemocraticvaluesandtheprinciplesofthemarketeconomy.HeclosedhisspeechbynotingtheimportanceofcompletingtheTransatlanticTradeandInvestmentPartnershipinachievingstabilityandgrowthinEurope.
Opening
8
Keynote Address by Andrej Kiska
AndrejKiska,PresidentofSlovakia,officiallyopenedtheForumhighlightingthepositiverolethatSlovakiacanplayinfindinganswerstoEurope’seconomicchallenges.PresidentKiskastressedthatfreedom,risktakingandcooperationarethethreemainpillarsof innovation.He lamentedthatEuropean legisla-tionoverburdensbusiness,stiflingtheireffectivedevelopmentandtherefore,hecalledonthenewCommissiontoenshrinehigh levelsof individual free-dom in the fullycompletedsinglemarket.Hedeclared that thecompletionofthesinglemarketwillbeoneofthekeyprioritiesoftheSlovakPresidencyoftheEuropeanCouncilin2016.Henotedthatpoliticians,inparticular,haveadutytoserveinfosteringinnovationandentrepreneurship.PresidentKiskasaidthateconomiccooperationrequiresgreatermobility.Finally,hediscussedtheTransatlanticTradeandInvestmentPartnershipandemphasiseditsimpor-tanceinfurtherstrengtheningEurope’stransatlanticbonds.
Day 1: Keynote
9
“If we aspire to inno-vative economics and entrepreneurship, it is critical that we have in-novative governments, innovating public poli-cies and innovative po-litical leaders.”
Andrej Kiska
10
Panel I
Moderated by Christian Kremer
ThepointofdepartureforPanelIwasthequestionofwhatishin-deringinnovationinEurope.Opinionwasdividedonwhetherthefinancingforbusinessesisdecisiveinthiscontext.Oneparticipantstatedthatthebankingsectordoesnotprovidetherighttypeoffundingtosupportinnovation.Otherpanellistscounteredthatfi-nancingwasnotamajorissueforbusinesses.
11
Speakers:
MartinBrunckoKumardevChatterjeeGunnarHökmarkMarkkuMarkkulaJamesWaterworth
_Blazing the Trail to Jobs and Growth:Innovatorsand Entrepreneurs
TheEUisincreasinglyfundinginnovation,researchanddevelopment. The challenges seem to lie elsewhere.First,inEuropethereisnotenoughculturalacceptanceof entrepreneurship. Failure is connected to guilt andshame:Suchaperceptionteachesyoungpeopleto‘betonsafety’.
12
“Labour market reforms are really a key issue across a number of Euro-pean countries because it de-risks the choice to pursue entrepreneurship and enables the hiring of employees.”
Martin Bruncko
Failedentrepreneurshardlyevergetasecondchance.Inaddition,educationandtrainingdonotencouragerisk-taking.Second,regu-lationsareoverburdeningbusinessinEurope.ThisconcernsbothEU-levelandnationalbusinessregulation.
13
“Entrepreneurship inno-vation is at the centre of how you generate new economic sectors and jobs and growth. If you don’t get that right you won’t get the rest of it in place.”
Kumardev Chatterjee
Thereisatendency,especiallyamongso-cialistpartiesinEurope,tocontrolentre-preneurship.Forexample,startingabusi-ness in a garage and employing peoplewouldbebannedinmanycountries.
14
“I don’t believe you can achieve a dynamic economy through public investment programmes (…) but you can do it by investing in research and science (…) and in the infrastructure of knowl-edge and science.”
Gunnar Hökmark
“Digitalisation and con-vergence towards digital services is speeding up. (…) We need to concen-trate much more on the human aspects of the digital single market is-sue.”
Markku Markkula
15
The investment plan of the upcoming European Commission wasalso discussed. It was stressed that how this money is spent willsend a signal of where the EU is heading in the area of innovations.ThepanelconcludedthatEuropeneedstotalkaboutits‘entrepreneurhe-roes’andtocommunicateinnovationsuccessstories.Politiciansshouldes-tablishcommunicationchannelsfornewentrepreneurs.Finally,theyshouldsupporttheTransatlanticTradeandInvestmentPartnership,whichwillspurinvestmentininnovativeproducts.
“The major opportunity in Europe is to revo-lutionise many of our traditional businesses particularly our small businesses (…) using the internet as their trading platform.”
James Waterworth
16
Moderated by Eoin Drea
ThepanelstartedwithapresentationbyMarcinPiatkowski,SeniorEcono-mistat theWorldBankoffice inWarsaw,whoremindedtheparticipantsofthesignificanteconomicgrowthandimprovedlivingstandardsexperi-encedbyCentralandEasternEuropeinthelast25years.Despitetherecenteconomiccrisis, thesecountrieshavebeeneconomicallyconvergingwiththerestofEuropeandsuggestedanumberofideasastohowthecurrentgrowthmodelcouldtobeadjustedtobeevenmoreeffective.
Panel II
17
_Central and Eastern Europe: New EU Economic Tigers?
Speakers:
EnikőGyőriSiegfriedMureşanLuděkNiedermayerMarcinPiatkowski
ThankstotheEU,CentralandEasternEu-ropeancountrieshavebeenabletocatchupwithWesternEuropeintermsofedu-cationandinfrastructure.
18
“We all have to remain on the reform path, which we all know won’t be easy.”
Enikő Győri
ThankstotheEU,CentralandEasternEuro-peancountrieshavebeenable tocatchupwithWesternEurope intermsofeducationand infrastructure. Those ten EU memberstatesthatjoinedin2004havegrownfasterthantherestofEurope,theUSandthemostof theirglobalpeerssince 1995.Theyhaveevenoutperformedthe‘AsianTigers’intheireconomicperformance.
19
“If we want to live bet-ter, we have to be more productive – for this we have to be better trained and more innovative.”
Siegfried Mureşan
Thepanellistsagreedthatfurthereconomicreformsareneededtostrengtheneconomicoutlooksandtomakethesegrowthlevelsmoresustainable.CentralandEasternEuropeancountriesallfaceasharedpoliticalchallenge:theneedtoimplementreformswhilemaintainingpublic support. The 1990s presented a window of opportunity forreform.Butwhile thisopportunitywas,byand large, seizedupon,furtherreformisnecessary.
20
To increase competi-tiveness, rising wageshavetoreflect increas-es in productivity. La-bour market reformsthatleadtoamoreflex-ible environment willnotonlybenefityoungpeopleseekingtoenteremployment but willalso increase competi-tiveness in the rest ofthelabourforce.
“We have to fight for less regulation. Govern-ments tend to regulate a lot – on things that are not necessary.”
Luděk Niedermayer
21
Butwhatcouldactuallybethefuturedriverofgrowthandre-forminCentralandEasternEurope?Learningfromthepositiveexperienceofothermemberstates,EUcohesionfundsandthepotentialofjoiningtheeurozoneoffermanypossibilitiesinthisregard.Wearenowwitnessingthemostcompetitive,bestedu-catedyounggenerationinCentralandEasternEuropeincentu-ries.Thefutureliesintheirhandsandtheyarewellequippedtocopewiththechallengesahead.
“It is in our interest for the EU to become stronger, deeper and more integrated in al-most every facet of life - including economic life. (…) Thus, I couldn’t sup-port the idea of a single market more.”
Marcin Piatkowski
22
Moderated by Erika Widegren
The focus of the third panel was on how Europe can benefit from a Digi-tal Single Market in terms of growth and jobs in the EU. Such an agen-da is necessary due to the high number of internet users in the EU.Thespeakersfocusedonthefactthataskillsshortagecouldbeaddressedthroughdigitaltoolssuchasonlinecourses.Accesstoeducationisthemostobviousbenefitofadigitaleducationagenda.
Panel III
23
_Going Digital:New Business forNew Societal Horizons
Speakers: JánFigel’OlofEhrenkronaKarimLesinaIvanMiklošAdina-IoanaVălean
Fromentertainmenttotradeanddatastorage,ourdigi-taliseddailylifeputspressureonlegislators.Thepanel-listsemphasisedtheimportanceofpreservingintellec-tualpropertyrights,securityanddataprotection.
24
Some of the typical features of digitalisa-tionhavetodowithchangesinproductionand consumption. Production relies heavilyondigitalisation,whichisachallengetothelabour market structure as traditional jobsbecome obsolete. Education reforms areneeded to prepare the next generation ofworkers.Codingandprogrammingarebe-comingimportantproductiontools.
“If political systems help people to become em-powered and to take initiative this is the best process to find answers to competitiveness, jobs and the future of Eu-rope. Europe is the an-swer, not the problem.”
Ján Figel’
25
A futureDigitalSingleMarketwas referredtoasakeypriorityoftheJunckerCommis-sion. The challenge is to harmonise the 28digitalmarkets,whicharegovernedbydif-ferent rules, overregulated and competingwith one another. Europe should not per-ceivedigitalisationasagoal in itselfbutasatooltoachievegrowth,businesscompeti-tiveness,transparencyanddemocracy.
“The most important in-vestment we can make is to teach kids coding and programming. There is a giant universe of open source resources out there (…) to be used by everyone.”
Olof Ehrenkrona
26
ThepanelconcludedthatcreatingaDigitalSingleMarketisthetruegrowthagenda.First,digitalisationsupportscompanygrowth.Second,theinternetrevolutionisesedu-cationbymakingitopen,accessibleandfree.Third,socialmediaischangingdemoc-racyandopensthespacefornewactorsandconflictscanbehandledinamorecon-structiveway.
“We don’t need to cre-ate a European Google or Amazon, those al-ready exist. We need to continue to develop our strength: good networks that allow companies and consumers to be mobile, digital and global.”
Karim Lesina
27
“Sometimes we underes-timate the role of digital economy in so-called ‘old industry’ (…). An answer to increase com-petitiveness for com-panies in the European Union is by using new technologies.”
Ivan Mikloš
“For the last 10 years the mantra in European eco-nomics was energy and climate. For at least the next 5 years, the mantra will be the digital agen-da.”
Adina-Ioana Vălean
28
Chaired by Mark Green
ThepanelopenedbystatingthattheEU-USrelationshipisthemostimportanteconomicrelationshipintheworld.Thesubsequentdis-cussionfocusedontacklingchallengestotheeffective function-ingofthisrelationship,specificallywithregardtotheTransatlanticTradeandInvestmentPartnership.
Panel IV
29
ThepanellistsagreedthatthereweredifficultiesonbothsidesoftheAtlanticbutthattheproblemswerebiggerinEurope.IntheUS,thepublicisnotreallyafraidofthetradeagreement.There,thechallengeisrathertoraiseawarenessandinterest.IntheEU,strongoppositionisoftenbasedonmisunderstandingsandunsubstantiatedfears.TheEuropeanfearsaremadeworseasaresultoffeelingsofself-protectionaftertherecenteconomiccrisis.Anti-Americanismandrightandleftwingextremismalsoplayapart.
_Old Allies and New Friends: Transatlantic Partners and Fast-Growing Global Economies
Speakers:
ReubenAbrahamElmarBrokAnthonyL.GardnerHarldPeters
30
Europeansneedtobelessautomaticallydis-trustfulof theUSgovernment.Thiscanbeachieved by improving legislation concern-ingdataprivacyofEUcitizens,anissuethattheUSgovernmentisworkingonintensively.Anadditional issue intheUS ispublicpro-curement inthefederalstates,wherethereisaEuropeanperceptionofalackoffairnesstooutsiders.
“The support for free trade is way higher in emerging markets than it is in the old econo-mies. Don’t be surprised if 25 years from now, Asia goes back to count-ing for over 50% of glo-bal GDP.”
Reuben Abraham
31
The panellists agreedthat neither the EU northeUShasstricterstan-dards of health protec-tion and environmen-tal protection. Instead,thesestandardsaresim-plydifferent.Bothsidescan recognise one an-other’sstandards.
“We not only want to have this agreement for economic reasons, TTIP serves a deeper goal in deepening transatlantic relations on a political level.”
Elmar Brok
32
“We have the opportu-nity today to get an am-bitious trade agreement done. It will create jobs, growth and increase exports on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Anthony L. Gardner
33
Goingforward,proponentsoftransatlantictradeneedtouseclearerlanguage,communicatingpositivestories.Thereisnootherdebt-freestimulusfortheEUandUSeconomies.TheEuropeanParliamentwilldiscussthetradeagreementingreatdetail.MostEuropeanbusiness-esandtradeunionswantthisdealbecausetheyrecognisehowmuchitcanhelpEuropeanandUSeconomies.
“Among SMEs, the over-all knowledge on TTIP is very limited, and the flow of information is very one-sided. We have to convince the SMEs on TTIP, tell them how they will benefit from it.” Harld Peters
34
“We have to be the hope for future generations, because what we are do-ing today, reforming our countries, is for them.”
Antonio López-Istúriz White
35
Closing Remarks by Antonio López-Istúriz White
Thanking all participants for the illuminating de-bates,AntonioLópez-IstúrizWhite,SecretaryTrea-sureroftheMartensCentreandSecretaryGeneraloftheEuropeanPeoples’Party,broughtthesuccessfulfirstdayoftheEconomicIdeasForumtoaclose.HeemphasisedthedifficultbutnecessaryreformsthatEuropeanpoliticiansmustenactandunderlinedtheneedtoeffectivelycommunicatethemtothepublic.Hearguedthattoomanypeopleremainunawareofthegreatprogresssparkedbyreformthatwehaveexperienced.Populistparties,nowasizeableforceintheEuropeanParliament,undermineconfidenceinthisreformagendaandareasourceofgreatcon-cern. Populist attacks on the Transatlantic Tradeand InvestmentPartnershipareparticularlyworry-ing.Itisthereforeimportantthatparticipantsthinknotonlyaboutinnovativeeconomicideasbutalsoabouthowtoeffectivelycommunicatethemtothegeneral public. The Economic Ideas Forum offerstheperfectopportunityforthisdiscussion.
Day 1: Conclusions
36
MikulášDzurinda,PresidentoftheMartensCentreandformerPrimeMinisterofSlovakia,welcomedallthegueststothegaladinner.Hebeganbypointingoutthat2014isayearofanniversaries:tenyearsofEUmembershipforSlova-kia;25sincetheoutbreakoftheFirstWorldWar.Dzurindacomparedtoday’sUkrainiancrisiswiththeyearsbeforetheSecondWorldWarwhenEuropealsohadtodealwithanaggressor.HecalledontheWesttohelpUkrainereformand modernise. In conclusion, he spoke about how the Martens Centre willcontributetowardsthisgoal:bygatheringexperiencedpoliticiansfromCentralEuropewhohavemanagedtransformation in theirowncountriesandbringthemtoUkrainetocommunicatetothecitizensthatreformsaretheonlywayforward.
Dinner speech
“Ukrainian civil society needs a boost. There is a lot we in the EU can do to strengthen their organisations, and help them to support re-form.”
Mikulas Dzurinda
37
38
Day 2: Opening
Opening Address by Joseph Daul
JosephDaul,PresidentoftheEPP,officiallyopenedtheseconddayofthisyear’s Economic Ideas Forum. After mentioning the large overlap of theagendaofthenewCommissionwiththeEPP’spoliticalprogramme,heem-phasisedtheEPPandthenewCommission’s intentiontoconcentrateonthecreationofsustainablejobs,growth,fairnessanddemocraticchange.
39
Moreover, President Daul stressed thatimproving Europe’s competitiveness andstimulating investment are necessarymeasurestoachievethesegoals.TheSin-gle Digital Market can only be achievedthrough the reduction of national barri-ersintelecomsregulation.PresidentDaulcalledforactiveeffortstoimproveEuro-peanenergymarketsand toengage theEuropeancitizenryindialogueaboutthereformagenda.Heconcludedbyacknowl-edgingthevaluableefforts thatSlovakiacanofferintheovercomingofeconomicdifficulties.
“We need to change, to develop, to innovate. Europe is no longer the
centre of the world.”
Joseph Daul
40
Panel V
Moderated by Tom Nuttall
Inhiskeynoteaddress,SteffenKampeter,StateSecretaryoftheGermanFederalMinistryofFinance,stressedtheimportantem-phasisthattheEPPplacesonbothfreetradeandsocialpolicy.CombiningbothistheonlysustainablewaytocreatenewjobsandboosttheEuropean.Centre-rightvaluesshouldplayacen-tralroleindevelopingandimplementingnewandinnovativere-forms.
_European Innovation Union. Winning the Race for Competitiveness
Speakers:
PedroMotaSoaresSteffenKampeterFrankHeld
41
Thepanelfocusedonstrategiestoachievegrowthandboostcompetitiveness.Therewasagreementthatsustainableeconomicgrowthcanberealisedonlythrough sound government finances, regulation of financial markets, struc-turalreforms(particularlyofthelabourmarket)andthesuccessfulcompletionoftheEuropeanSingleMarket.
42
Additionalrequiredreformsarethesuccess-ful completion of the Transatlantic Tradeand InvestmentPartnership, thepreventionof double taxation and double non-taxa-tion(BEPS),developingaEuropeanEnergyUnionandbuildingaEuropeanSingleDigitalMarket.
“What was crucial for the success of the re-forms in Portugal was that they were all done in the context of social dialogue. It’s important to have your social part-ners on board.”
Pedro Mota Soares
43
“Investment should not be the driver of public budgeting, it is now an intellectual challenge to drive investment forward without leaving the path of fiscal consolidation.”
Steffen Kampeter
The panellists focused on thefactthatinnovationisanecessity.Publicresearchanddevelopmentspending must be increased inorder to attract private invest-ment.
44
A future Innovation Union dependsfundamentallyonhumancapital.Qual-ificationsandcurriculamustbedevel-oped in partnership with industry inorder to bridge knowledge and skillsgaps.TheEUalsoneedstobetterlinkscientific discoveries with the marketcommercialisationof innovativeprod-ucts.
European competitiveness isdeterioratingincomparisontoglobalcompetitors.In2012,forthe first time, China investedmore of its GDP on researchanddevelopmentthantheEU.This is despite the goals setout in theLisbonStrategy.Toreboot its economy, the EUneedstoinvestbutinvestmentcanbewastefuland irrespon-sible.Privateinvestmentistyp-ically better targeted and dy-namic thanpublic investment.Public investment, typically,doesnothavethehighgrowthcapacityofprivateinvestmentininnovation.
45
“We need to realize in Europe that there are important building blocks for innovation: in-novation needs science and a location, a com-petitive framework, a political framework and political support, and public acceptance.”
Frank Held
46
Panel VI
Moderated by Gabriele Steinhauser
Newfinancialproductsareoftencitedasacontributor to thesub-primemortgagecrisisintheUS,whichsparkedtheglobalfinancialcrisis.Thepan-ellistsagreedthatfinancialinnovationwasnotthecause.Instead,theprob-lemlayininadequatenationalsupervisionofnewfinancialinstruments.
_Banking on Tomorrow: Financial Innovation in a Post-crisis EU
Speakers:
BernhardFeldererBrianHayesVladimírŠuchaNicolasVéron
47
TheBankingUnionhascreatedthenecessaryregulationstomanagetherisksoffinancial innovation.Theultimateoutcomedependsonthequalityofsu-pervision.Properimplementationofsupervisingmechanismsinthememberstatesisessential.ItisexpectedthattheSingleSupervisoryMechanism(SSM)willimprovetheinvestmentclimate.
48
CentralandEasternEuropeancountrieswillprobablybeinterestedinjoiningtheSSM,al-thoughsomearenotintheeurozone.TheirjoiningwillreducethefragmentationofEu-ropeanfinancialmarkets.Wewillseefurtherinnovative financial measures that will cir-cumventtheregulatedbankingsystem.
“Intelligent financial instruments are not bad in themselves, they have been misused in the past and should be better regulated today to be fit for purpose.”
Bernhard Felderer
49
Oneexampleiscrowd-funding.Accordingtoonepanellist,furtherresearchisneed-edtocreateabetterunderstandingoftherisks linked with these new instruments.Thedevelopmentofquantumphysiccom-putersmayrenderourcurrentwayofrun-ningfinancialoperationsobsolete. “If we get the capital
market system right, it’s an opportunity to un-leash additional funding to the SME and to the business sector gener-ally.”
Brian Hayes
50
ThepanellistsfurtheridentifiedthatEuropehasstillnotachievedthestageofapost-cri-siseconomy.Europewillonlyhaveovercomethecrisiswhenunemploymenthasreducedandeconomicgrowthhasreturned.Inaddi-tion,thehistoricallylowinterestratepolicyoftheECBisnotreflectedinbanklendingratestothegeneralpublic.Unfortunately,in-vestorshavenotyetregainedtrustandcon-fidenceinthesystem.Therefore,companies(particularlySMEs)continuetofacedifficul-tiesinaccessingcredit.
“In 20 years, the banking sector will be very differ-ent from today, because of innovations such as quantum technology and the atomic clock.”
Vladimír Šucha
51
The procedures prepar-ing the upcoming bank-ingstresstesthavebeenpositive,withnoleaksofinformation so far. It ispositivethatthefinalre-sult isnotknownbeforethe results are officiallypublished.Thenotionofa stress test strength-ens the confidence ofinvestors, although theoutcome may reveal un-pleasant surprises aboutthe quality of banks’ as-sets.
“The financial crisis can-not be blamed on finan-cial innovation and the new technologies that came from it. There is no clear consensus on what caused the financial cri-sis.”
Nicolas Véron
52
Panel VII
_East-East EconomicCooperation. ExportingTransformationModels to EU’s EasternNeighbourhood
Moderated by Roland Freudenstein
In his keynote address, Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President Des-ignateoftheEuropeanCommission,responsiblefortheEuroandSocial Dialogue, summarised the effective ways that Latvia re-turnedtoeconomicgrowthafterthefinancialcrisisin2008underhisleadership.Fiscaladjustment,thebetterabsorptionofEUfundsandtheprovisionofasafetynetforunemployedandvulnerablecitizenswereallcrucialcomponentsinestablishinggrowth.
Speakers:
ValdisDombrovskisMikulášDzurindaAmbassadorSalomeSamadashviliGeorgeLogushŽigaTurk
53
TheLatvianapproachmightberelevanttocurrentEUgovernmentsstrugglingwithfinancialandeconomicdifficulties.DombrovskisalsostressedtheimportantroleplayedbytheEUindrivingthetransformationofEasternPartnershipcountries.
54
The panel discussion focusedon theprospective futureof theEastern Neighbourhood. Theprocessofnegotiatingandsign-ingAssociationAgreementswithEasterncountrieswaswelcomedas a big step in the right direc-tion. Such agreements reinforcereform agendas. Reforms, how-ever, are not an easy to imple-ment.
“Financial stability re-ally is a precondition for economic growth: if financial stability is re-stored, companies start to invest, citizens start to spend, even banks start to lend to the economy.”
Valdis Dombrovskis
55
Thetransitionfromsocialismtocap-italism inCentralEuropewascom-paredtoawindingroad.Itwascon-cludedthattheEasternEuropehastoundergocontinuous reformwithcleargoals.
“Every country which is willing and able to meet the criteria, both politi-cally and economically, should be given the chance to join the Euro-pean Union.”
Mikuláš Dzurinda
56
Georgiawasdiscussedasagoodexampleofthesuc-cessfulimplementationofreform.MajorreformeffortstookplaceundertheSaakashviligovernment.Thechal-lengesposedbycorruptionandtheneedtorebuildthestateweresuccessfullydealtwith.Incontrast,Sloveniaservesasanexampleof incomplete reformsdue toamore‘gradualist’approach.
“We have to keep in mind that if you are re-forming too quickly, you lose touch with the vot-ers, which is what hap-pened in Georgia.”
Ambassador Salome Samadashvili
57
The judiciary remainsunreformed and themarket economy re-mains weak. The ed-ucation and health-care systems havebeenonlypartiallyre-formed.
“In Ukraine, there’s a constant struggle be-tween a slow process of reform and a growing desire of people to see fast change.”
George Logush
58
59
RegardingUkraine,thepanelar-gued that the EU must offer aclear path to eventual member-ship.TheEUcouldtherebyfacili-tatesweepingreforminUkraine.The panel concluded that thewhole of Europe is undergoingtransformationandsuffersfromalackofconfidenceresultantfromeconomic crisis. The challengeforEuropeanpoliticiansisnowtoreformulateandreaffirmtherightdirectionforthefuture.
“There’s a very clear re-sult visible that Eastern European countries that have had democratic changes of power over the last 25 years are the countries that are now coping well through the crisis.”
Žiga Turk
60
Closing of the Forum
Tomi Huhtanen
61
Tomi Huhtanen, Director of theMartens Centre, applauded thediverse insights and fruitful de-batesenjoyedbyparticipantsatthe Economic Ideas Forum. ThewholeofEurope,notjustcentralandeasternregions,hasenteredaperiod of transition and trans-formation.Therefore,heargued,acontinuousprocessofreformisrequiredtomeetthecurrenteco-nomic challenges. Drawing les-sonsfromthetwodaysofintensepolitical and economic discus-sion, Huhtanen spoke about thedifferentapproachesandspeedsnecessary foreachcountry’s re-formstobesuccessful.TheEuro-peaneconomywillbedrivennotnecessarily by the largest mem-berstateeconomiesbutbythosethat successfully implement in-novativeeconomicideas.Hecon-cludedbynotingthatourvaluesmustplayacentralrole,workingtogether with committed andpassionatereform.
62
Speakers
63
Kumardev Chatterjee
Founder and President of the European Young Innovators Forum
Reuben Abraham
CEO and Senior Fellow at the IDFC Institute
Elmar Brok
Member of the European Parliament, Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
Martin Bruncko
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nubi, former Senior Director and Head of Europe at the World Economic Forum
Joseph Daul
PresidentoftheEPP
Eoin Drea
Research Officer at the Martens Centre
64
Valdis Dombrovskis
Vice-President Designate of the European Commission, respon-sible for the Euro and Social Dialogue
Mikuláš Dzurinda
President of the Martens Centre and former Prime Minister of Slovakia
Olof Ehrenkrona
Senior Advisor for the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Bernhard Felderer
President of the AustrianFiscal Advisory Council
Ján Figel’
Vice-President of the National Council of Slovakia, former European Commissioner for Education, Training and Culture
Roland Freudenstein
Head of Research, DeputyDirector at the Martens Centre
65
Mark Green
PresidentoftheInternationalRepublicanInstitute
Anthony L Gardner
U.S. Ambassadorto the European Union
Brian Hayes
Member of the EuropeanParliament, Committee on
Economic and Monetary Affairs
Enikő Győri
Hungarian Ambassador to Madrid, Former Minister of State for EU Affairs of Hungary
Gunnar Hökmark
Member of the European Parliament, Committee on Economic
and Monetary Affairs
Frank Held
BayerManagingDirectorforCzechRepublicandSlovakia
66
Steffen Kampeter
StateSecretary,FederalMinistryofFinance,Germany
Tomi Huhtanen
Director of the Martens Centre
Andrej Kiska
President of Slovakia
Christian Kremer
Deputy Secretary General of the EPP
Karim Lesina
Vice-President of AT&T’s Inter-national External Affairs for the EU, Caribbean, Latin America and Trans-Atlantic Relations
George Logush
President of Kyiv Schoolof Economics
67
Markku Markkula
Member of the EU Committeeof the Regions
Ivan Mikloš
Member of the Slovak Parliament, Former Minister of Finance of Slovakia
Siegfried Mureşan
Member of the European Parliament, Committee on Budgets
Luděk Niedermayer
Member of the European Parliament, Committee on Economic
and Monetary Affairs
Harld Peters
UPS Vice-President
Tom Nuttall
Charlemagne columnistat The Economist
68
Salome Samadashvili
Visiting Fellow at the Martens Centre, Head of Georgia’s Mission to the EU, 2005-2013
Vladimír Šucha
Director-General of the Joint ResearchCentre of the European Commission
Gabriele Steinhauser
European Economy Reporterat the Wall Street Journal
Marcin Piatkowski
Senior Economist at the World Bank office in Warsaw
Pedro Mota Soares
MinisterofSolidarity,EmploymentandSo-cialSecurityofPortugal
Žiga Turk
Professor and Researcher, Former Minister ofEducation, Science, Culture and Sports of Slovenia
69
Nicolas Véron
Senior Fellow at Bruegel
Antonio López-Istúriz White
SecretaryGeneraloftheEPPandSecretaryTreasureroftheMartensCentre
Adina-Ioana Vălean
Vice-President of the European Parliament, Committee on Industry, Research and Energy
Erika Widegren
Executive Director of Atomium Culture
James Waterworth
Vice President for Europe of Computerand Communications Industry Association
70
EIF 14in press
This year, the EIF received mediacoveragebothbeforeandaftertheevent.Beforetheevent,internationalnewsagenciessuchasReutersandCNBCBusinessNewspromotedtheEIF in their listofupcomingeventsas a “Top Economic Event”. Duringthe EIF, journalists from both east-ernandwesternEuropeancountriesandtheUnitedStatesattendedtheforumandreportedon it.AftertheEIF, articles and interviews werepublishedbydifferentmediaoutletsthroughout the world and particu-larlyinSlovakia,theEIFmademanyheadlines.
71
72
EveryyearpoliticalcartoonistRafaSañudoprovideshisownvisualinterpretationsofthemaintopicsdiscussed inrealtime.Politicalhumouratitsbest!
EIF14 political cartoons
73
74
The EIF received a large volume ofonlinebuzzandgenerated socialme-dia conversations and much engage-ment.AllpanelswerestreamedliveonFORA TV, the well-known conferenceandeventvideoplatform,whereover200peopleworldwidefollowedtheEIFliveonline.ThecompletevideoscanbewatchedonFORATV:ces.tc/eif14vid-eos.OnTwitter,therewasalivelycon-versationabouttheEIF’stopics.Speak-ers,attendeesandthepressmadegooduseoftheofficialhashtag#EIF14,andsharedthephotosthatweremadebytheEIFphotographer.Eventphotosareavailableon theMartensCentreFlickraccount:ces.tc/eif14photos.
EIF14Interactive
75
76
EIF Event app
Thisyear,theMartensCentrewasproudtointroducetheEIFEventApp.Theapp,availableoniOS,AndroidandHTML5,providedtheprogramme,speakerbiog-raphies,venueinformation,andotherinformationontheEIFandalsofunctionedasareal-timesocialnet-work,anetworkingtoolandaplatformforfeedbackthroughsurveys.
Theresultsofthesur-veys were displayedduring the panels, sothat the speakers onthe stage were ableto react to thepublicopinion in the room.The app was usedby almost all partici-pants, who togetherposted 200 com-ments,132photos,147reviews and 252 sta-tusupdates.
Economic Ideas ForumOCT 16-17
Post-Event Engagement Report
OVERVIEW
active users total in-app actions avg number of actionsper user
139.28109 15,181
IN-APP ACTIONS OVER TIME
9a 10a 11a 12p 1p 2p 3p 4p 5p 6p 9a 10a 11a 12p 1p 2p 3p 4p 5p 6p
TOP ACTIONS
242
bo
ok
marks
252
stat
us
updates
200
com
ments
957
lik
es
60 checkins 151 surveys 132 photos 147 ratings
DEVICE BREAKDOWN
iOS
56%
phone - 50
tablet - 17
Android
37%
44
HTML5
7%
8
77
78
Partners
79
Institute forModern Slovakia
The Institute for Mod-ern Slovakia (IPMS) isthe political foundationoftheSDKÚ-DSpartyinSlovakia, established inMarch 2007. Its goal istocreateaspaceforfur-ther education, lifelongenhancement of knowl-edgeandskillsofcentreright-wingorientedpeo-ple, whose views, opin-ions and attitudes areclose to SDKÚ-DS, witha special focus on edu-cation for party mem-bers.
The Anton Tunega Foundation has beentheofficialthinktankChristianDemocrat-icMovement(KDH)forthelast20years.Thefoundationispro-Europeanandsup-portsconservativeandcentrerightvalues.Theyorganiseseminars,trainingcourses,roundtable discussions and conferencesincooperationwiththeirnationalandin-ternationalpartners.Theyaimtoexamineandshedanewlightoncurrentissuesinsocietyandtoproposeresponsiblesolu-tions. The mission of the Anton TunegaFoundation istopromoteanewgenera-tionofprofessional,conservativeleaders,able to take responsibility in leading thecountryintherightdirection.
Anton Tunega Foundation
80
AT&Tisoneoftheworld‘s leaders inthecommunication services. The companyprovides its clients with high quality, re-liable, innovative solutions in communi-cation.Today,theirmissionistoconnectpeoplewiththeirworld,everywheretheyliveandwork,anddoitbetterthanany-oneelse.Theyarefulfillingthisvisionbycreatingnewsolutionsforconsumersandbusinesses and by driving innovation inthe communications and entertainmentindustry.
www.att.com
UPS isaglobal leader in logistics,offer-ing a broad range of solutions includingtransportingpackagesandfreight; facili-tating international trade and deployingadvancedtechnologytomoreefficientlymanagetheworldofbusiness.Headquar-tered in Atlanta, UPS serves more than220countriesandterritoriesworldwide.
www.ups.com
Bayerisaglobalenterprisewithcorecom-petenciesinthefieldsofhealthcare,ag-ricultureandhigh-techpolymermaterials.Asan innovationcompany, itsetstrendsinresearch-intensiveareas.Bayer’sprod-uctsandservicesaredesignedtobenefitpeopleandimprovethequalityoflife.Atthesametime, theGroupaimstocreatevaluethroughinnovation,growthandhighearningpower.
http://www.bayer.com/
eBay Inc. isaglobalcommerceplatformand payments leader. eBay Inc. is com-prised of three business units with theirowndistinctbrand:eBayenablesindivid-ualsandbusiness tobuyandsellonline;PayPal enables individuals and business-es tosendand receivedigitalpayments;eBayEnterpriseenablescommerce,retail-ing and digital marketing for merchants.Thecompany’spurposeistocreatemoreopportunitiesandtoenableotherstowinwhilemakingapositivesocialimpact.
http://www.ebayinc.com/
Sponsors
81
Why sponsor the Economic Ideas Forum?
OurEIFsponsorshippackageoffersthefollowingbenefits:
• Opportunitytohaveyourorganisationrepresentedinthepanelde-batesbyexpertspeakers,thuscontributingdirectlytotopdebatesaroundtheEuropeaneconomy
• Access to a network of high-level policy makers, including primeministers,ministers,EuropeanCommissioners
• Numerousnetworkingopportunitieswiththespeakersandaselectaudience
• FullvisibilityforyourorganisationduringtheeventandinallEIFprintmaterials
• Wideinternationalmediacoverage,inprint,broadcastandonline
Ifinterestedinoursponsorshippackage,pleasecontact:JoséLuisFontalba
Email:[email protected]:+3223008016
82
Economics Ideas Forum Bratislava 2014
83
Text:BenjaminBarth,HegevanDijke,VítNovotný,KalinZahariev
Editing:EoinDrea,EoinO’Driscoll,RolandFreudenstein
Eventdesignandstaging:RARO
Publicationdesign:eresus
Brussels,December2014
WilfriedMartensCentreforEuropeanStudies
RueduCommerce20
B–1000Brussels
TheWilfriedMartensCentreforEuropeanStudiesistheofficialthinktankandpo-liticalfoundationoftheEuropeanPeo-ple’sPartydedicatedtothepromotionofChristianDemocrat,conservativeandlike-mindedpoliticalresearchandvalues.Formoreinformationpleasevisit:
www.martenscentre.eu
ThispublicationreceivesfundingfromtheEuropeanParliament.
©WilfriedMartensCentreforEuropeanStudies2014
Photosusedinthispublication:
©WilfriedMartensCentreforEuropeanStudies2014
The European Parliament and the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies as-sume no responsibility for facts or opin-ions expressed in this publication or their subsequent use. Sole responsibility lies on the author of this publication.
Credits
84
Bratislava, 2014
