Why Europe needs a federation and how it can be accomplished

The debate on the future of the European Central Bank is intensifying ahead of the appointment of a successor to President Christine Lagarde. Jean-Claude Trichet, the ECB’s second president (2004-11), takes part in an event at the Reform Club jointly arranged by the Society of Professional Economists, OMFIF and the Reform Club’s Economics & Current Affairs group.

In a discussion led by Nathalie Romang, chair of the Economics & Current Affairs group, and George Buckley, SPE chair, Trichet will debate the topic with David Marsh, chairman of OMFIF and author of ‘Can Europe Survive?’, who argues for a Europe built on the Jacques Delors principles of ‘variable geometry’.

Marsh believes the ECB will become a more overtly political bank, more in the mould of François Mitterrand than of Helmut Schlesinger. He also favours a cautious extension of the Next Generation EU borrowing programme, an issue dividing the German political and economic community that will influence the ECB succession. The discussion asks what kind of Europe lies ahead after the diverse shocks of Presidents Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping – and what role Britain will play, 10 years after the referendum leading to departure from the UK