Since the 2024 publication of reports by senior statesmen Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi, the European Union has been debating how to improve its competitiveness and foster more high-growth companies. Together with France's Christian Noyer, former German Federal Finance Minister Jörg Kukies has led an in-depth investigation of policy options to that effect. This session discusses their findings and recommendations.

In 2012, Anu Bradford coined the expression "Brussels effect," echoing earlier intra-US references to a similar "California effect"—namely that the global significance of the European market allowed the European Union to shape market regulations worldwide. Is this concept still relevant in a world that appears to have entered a phase of fragmentation?

Ukraine is on a path towards membership in the European Union—subject of course to the outcome of the ongoing brutal war of aggression by Russia. In this inaugural session of PIIE's new Europe-focused live podcast series, we will discuss the challenges and trade-offs both for Ukraine and for the European Union, with a leading government adviser and civil society advocate who was Ukraine's deputy infrastructure minister between July 2022 and October 2024.