The Economic Foundations of European Sovereignty
Join us in Brussels for a full day of discussion on the assets, costs and reforms behind European sovereignty.
Wednesday 24 June 2026
Rue Ravenstein 2, 1000 Brussels
From energy to defence to the euro itself, Europe’s independence depends on money, institutions, and choices it has deferred for a generation. This conference counts the chips and asks who foots the bill.
The European Macro Policy Network is bringing together national and European policymakers, economists and academics to confront a single question: does Europe have the policy architecture – the instruments, the institutions, the fiscal room for manoeuvre – to defend its economic sovereignty in an era of permanent geopolitical instability?
Programme
| 9:30 – 10:00 · Welcome and introduction · Ludovic Suttor-Sorel, Managing Director, European Macro Policy Network · Philippa Sigl-Glöckner, President of the Board, European Macro Policy Network |
| 10:00 – 11:30 · The euro’s missing infrastructure: gap or choice? A global currency needs a safe asset backed by a credible lender of last resort, deep and liquid capital markets, and payment systems it controls. The euro has fragments of each but none complete. Is that a gap or a choice? Meanwhile, dollar stablecoins are extending US monetary reach through new private payment rails. Can Europe build its own model, and is a stronger euro worth the trade-offs in industrial competitiveness, fiscal risk-sharing, and political integration? · Boris Kisselevsky, Head of the ECB Representation in Brussels · Heiko Hesse, Deputy Resident Representative to the EU, IMF · Shahin Vallée, Director of the Geoeconomics programme, DGAP (German Council on Foreign Relations) · Moderation: Max Krahé, Research Director, Dezernat Zukunft |
| Coffee break |
| 11:45 – 13:15 · Sovereignty has a cost: who pays, and what gives? This panel addresses whether Europe has the fiscal capacity to absorb geopolitical shocks today and the political will to build the architecture it needs for tomorrow. Policymakers must design credible response packages under tight fiscal constraints within an EU framework not built for geoeconomic disruption. But the urgent cannot crowd out the important. Europe’s ambitions on energy, defence, and industry all hit the same wall: a financing problem. Fiscal rules and debt constrain public borrowing. Private capital markets remain fragmented. And European savings continue to fund American innovation. Reform creates winners and losers. Who pays, and what breaks if Europe gets it wrong? · Gilles Mourre, Head of Unit for Fiscal Policy and Surveillance, DG ECFIN, European Commission · Clara Leonard, Managing Director, Institut Avant-garde · Tim Legierse, Counsellor for the MFF and Own Resources, Permanent Representation of the Netherlands to the EU · (tbc) |
| Lunch |
| 14:15 – 15:45 · The unfinished energy union: what would a deal cost? Europe has a single electricity market, but arguably never built the politics to keep one running. Each step to complete it (interconnectors, joint planning, shared flexibility, cost-sharing) seems to run into the same difficulty: governments hesitate to sign off on projects whose bill falls on their own taxpayers while much of the benefit flows next door. What often looks like a technical debate about grids may in fact be a distributional one, and we still lack a shared way to account for what each side gives up. The panel explores this question around the European Grids Package, and closes on what may be the decisive one: which capital would sign, and which might walk out? · Tom Howes, Advisor for Green Transition and Market Regulation, DG ENER, European Commission · Alexander Roth, Affiliate Fellow, Bruegel · (tbc) · (tbc) |
| Coffee break |
| 16:00 – 17:30 · Strategic autonomy: counting the chips The external environment that shaped Europe’s strategic position for a generation is unravelling: cheap energy, American security, Chinese demands, open supply chains. Every country now needs to move faster on energy security, defence, and industrial capacity. But can national responses alone match the scale of the challenge, or does Europe need to pool its leverage? This panel takes stock of the assets, from regulatory reach to the world’s largest consumer market to vast household savings, and asks: are they enough, can they be mobilised fast enough, and what stands in the way? · Philippa Sigl-Glöckner, Managing Director, Dezernat Zukunft · Olivia Lazard, Planetary Fellow, Berggruen Institute · (tbc) · (tbc) |