ONLINE CONFERENCE<\/p>\n
“The Next Generation EU program: a fertile path for a more inclusive Europe?”<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Organization: CEI International Affairs<\/p>\n With the collaboration of: \u201cla Caixa\u201d Foundation<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Date: Wednesday, April 21, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n Online modality<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n One of the purposes of the EU is to strengthen economic, social, and territorial cohesion and solidarity between member states. However, the economic crisis that began in 2008 brought an increase in inequality, moving away the horizon of greater convergence. In this process, the main EU institutions advocated a conditional rescue model in the most affected states based on budgetary austerity, which implied a substantial worsening of living conditions in southern European countries, particularly in Spain, Portugal and Greece.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n With the COVID-19 pandemic, a new economic crisis is leaving millions of people without income, again especially in southern countries, highly dependent on the most affected sectors such as tourism. Despite the initial reluctance of some Northern European countries, this time the EU has proposed an alternative route: an unprecedented fiscal stimulus package, the Next Generation EU.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is relevant to ask ourselves about the scope of this aid, which will reach countries with high levels of economic inequality inherited from the previous crisis: what impact will these funds have on inequality within and between European States? Will they be enough to alleviate the differential effects of the crisis in the different European countries and regions? What are the main challenges to the implementation of these funds and on what mechanisms does their relevance depend on to alleviate economic inequality? And finally: do these recovery funds mean the end of the austerity-based stage or is it just a parenthesis that will be closed when the worst part of the pandemic has been overcome?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n