Bank of Finland at the Europe Forum in Turku: ‘A strong Europe in a world of confrontation’ and ‘Life in a Monetary Union’

Have smaller Member States lost the idea of Europe?

The Europe Forum, now in its eighth year, is celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of Finland’s accession to the European Union. The themes of the 2025 Europe Forum include changes in the security policy environment, Europe’s competitiveness and the EU’s multiannual budget.

In this year’s Esko Antola Lecture, Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn reflects on the position of Europe in a confrontational world. How is the idea of Europe viewed today, particularly by the continent’s small and medium-sized Member States – in circumstances where it feels that the EU is on the sidelines observing the seismic rumbles in the geopolitical landscape, some of it in neighbouring regions. Solutions that will strengthen the EU’s effectiveness in the long term are especially important for small and medium-sized Member States. A commentary will then be presented by Adjunct Professor Jenni Karimäki, Senior Researcher at the University of Eastern Finland. The discussion following the lecture will be moderated by Elisa Newby, Head of General Secretariat at the Bank of Finland.

Panel discussion ‘Life in a Monetary Union’

The second of the Bank of Finland’s events at the Europe Forum in Turku will be a discussion about the EU’s Monetary Union. The discussion panellists will be Juhana Aunesluoma, Professor at the University of Helsinki, Jussi Lindgren, Special Adviser on Economic Policy at the Ministry of Finance, Päivi Puonti, Head of Forecasting at ETLA Economic Research, and Jarmo Kontulainen, Emeritus Adviser at the Bank of Finland. The panel discussion will be moderated by Juha Kilponen, Head of Monetary Policy and Research at the Bank of Finland.

Global economic trends, such as population ageing, world trade growth and climate change, are shaping the environment for monetary policy. Europe has also faced a number of serious crises. These shifting conditions have prompted the adoption of new monetary policy instruments and institutions. At the same time, the EU has evolved towards a fiscal union because of the increase in EU-level expenditure based on joint decisions and shared responsibility. A genuine fiscal policy tool that would support the single monetary policy has yet to emerge, however. The panel will discuss potential paths towards a more functional Union. What kind of shared fiscal authority would best complement national budget policies? Should part of the EU’s expenditure be financed through taxation at the EU level? How would debt sustainability at the EU level be ensured?

Bank of Finland at the Europe Forum

The Europe Forum event in Turku is an annual event that examines Finland’s role in Europe and in the European Union. The 2025 Europe Forum theme is ‘The world is changing – how will Europe respond?’. This year’s Esko Antola Lecture is the sixth such lecture organised by the Bank of Finland for the Europe Forum programme. The lecture is named after Esko Antola, a pioneer of research in European studies in Finland.

The Europe Forum programme is available here https://europeforum.fi/en/programme. The events are open to everyone, but attendance in person requires advance registration online. The events will be live streamed and can be viewed without registration. The Finnish presentations and discussions will be interpreted into English.