For the first time, the Fiscal Policy Seminar will take place on 8-9 October 2020 as a joint Franco-German event. We are looking for research papers that present new and innovative ideas. This year’s topic: “Economic lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic – first findings”. We are now accepting submissions. An independent jury will choose the best papers from the entries received. The selected authors will be invited to present and discuss their ideas at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Berlin. As every year, the best contribution will receive the "Best Paper Award" and be awarded a prize of 5,000 euros.

Olaf Scholz, German Finance Minister, Wopke Hoekstra, Minister of Finance of the Netherlands and Bruno Le Maire, Minister of Economy and Finance of France, received the “Savings and Sustainable Investment Union” report by the Next Capital Markets Union High-Level Group on 9 October 2019. They thanked the Next CMU Group for their high-quality work and welcome the ambitious recommendations in a joint press statement that you can find here.

The second Fiscal Policy Seminar took place on 7-8 October 2019 at the Federal Ministry of Finance: 65 science and policy experts from twelve countries attended the seminar, titled “Analysing developments in savings, investments and interest rates – reassessing the role of fiscal policies for growth and stabilisation”. They analysed the developments of savings, investments and interest and discussed conclusions on how to implement fair fiscal policies.

At the meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Helsinki on 13 September 2019, Germany and France issued a joint statement on the digital currency Libra. Federal Minister of Finance Olaf Scholz and his French counterpart Bruno Le Maire oppose Facebook’s digital currency. They consider that the Libra project fails to convince that risks will be properly addressed.