The European Institute of Romania, in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organized the online conference “Post-pandemic economy” (Zoom platform) on September 28, 2021, between 11:00 a.m. and 01:00 p.m.
The event is part of the series dedicated to the Conference on the Future of Europe. The main purpose of the event was to promote the debate on the future of Europe and raise citizens’ awareness of political, economic, and social developments, in order to analyse the effects of the pandemic on economic policies, as well as the implications of the health crisis on contemporary economic thinking and reasoning.
In this context, among the topics discussed were: the importance of dialogue, as well as of citizen expressing their opinions within the events part of to the Conference on the Future of Europe, recovery and resilience processes of European economies and societies during and post-pandemic, the need to prepare the European Union for future crises.
At the same time, during the event were presented a series of ideas and data on the implications of the pandemic on the economy and society, such as:
- The health crisis has led to a more extensive financial flexibility through the adoption of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism. One of its aims is to strengthen the EU’s internal and external resilience mainly by completing the internal market and its freedoms.
- During pandemic, the European Union managed to establish mechanisms that allowed it to show solidarity with the Member States, although it did not have exclusive competences in the health sector.
- There are six main directions for the use of recovery and resilience allocations: digitization, green transition, economy, social cohesion, administrative modernization, and youth funds. The sums allocated from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan will be supplementary to the allocations from Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027. It is desirable to follow the correlation of the objectives on the two dimensions.
- It is possible that in the future there will be debates on other collective / joint loans contracted at the Union level.
- The Conference on the Future of Europe can be equivalent with a Conference on the Future of Romania. Romania’s main objectives should be: joining the euro area, improving its integration into European production chains; so its own development, resilience, and stability.
- From an economic point of view, although we live in a period of uncertainty, accentuated by the pandemic, there are also opportunities that can be used during this period, such as: 5G, 6G or artificial intelligence. At the companies level, even though many employers have a shortage of IT&C staff, there is interest in digital transformation.
- The involvement of the President of the Commission in supporting the recovery and resilience plans, proposed by the Member States, shows the need for a firm long-term industrial policy. The green transition involves an intergenerational problem – what will we leave to future generations?
- Stronger support is needed, through dedicated funding, for education and health – areas that provide public goods.
- In crisis situations, it is important to have strong institutions that will help alleviate the shock to society and reduce uncertainty – see the cases in Belgium and the Netherlands. This will allow us to be better prepared when another crisis occurs.
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