Reshaping the EU post-covid: reviewing Germany’s EU presidency

The 'Reshaping the EU post-covid' series brings together policymakers, experts and decision-makers from across Europe to discuss how Brussels and EU member states are grappling with diverging pressures and expected responses to covid-19, and what these developments will mean for businesses and investors in the medium to long term.

The unexpected health crisis has placed EU capitals under pressure to build recovery plans that will swiftly restart economies. The outlook in the medium term, however, points to an uneven recovery across the bloc. To what extent the current negotiations on the EU’s 2021-27 budget (the Multiannual Financial Framework) and recovery fund will effectively answer these issues remains to be seen and will be explored during this series. The EU institutions will also have to rethink their push for the twin transition - to a green and digital economy - given countries’ focus on tackling the economic impact of the pandemic.

For this event we were joined by Olaf Scholz, Germany’s Federal Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor, and Peter Mandelson, Chairman at Global Counsel. The discussion focused on the priorities of Germany’s presidency of the Council of the EU and the bloc’s response to the covid-19 pandemic.