Speaker(s): Mário Centeno | In his lecture Eurogroup President Mário Centeno will speak about the push to reform the Euro and the politics behind it, and discuss how the single currency could shield the European economy from both internal and external shocks in the future. Mário Centeno (@mariofcenteno) was elected President of the Eurogroup on 4 December 2017 by the Euro area finance ministers. Since December 2017 he also serves as Chair of the Board of Governors of the European Stability Mechanism. He was sworn in as Finance Minister of Portugal in November 2015. Mr Centeno is an economist and University Professor who only began his political career in 2015. Before that he held several positions in Portugal’s Central Bank where he started as an economist in 2000. Mr Centeno has an academic background with two Masters – the first one in Applied Mathematics, by ISEG-UTL in 1993, the second one in Economics, by Harvard University, USA, in 1998 – and a PhD in Economics, by Harvard University, USA, concluded in 2000. Minouche Shafik is Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Prior to this she was Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) is a centre for research and graduate teaching on the processes of integration and fragmentation within Europe. In the most recent national Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) the Institute was ranked first for research in its sector.