In The Room: Recent Episodes
Tim Gwynn Jones
The European Union behind closed doors.
Tim Gwynn Jones talks to former top EU officials about the union's crisis years.
twentyfourtwo.substack.com
Four months after taking office in May 1996, Italian prime minister Romano Prodi flew to Valencia for a bilateral summit with his Spanish counterpart José María Aznar. Germany, France and the EU's core members were getting ready to create the euro but Italy needed more time to get its economy in order. In Valencia, Prodi lobbied Aznar to join him in a second wave but met a firm veto. "The Aznar position was very tough and somehow shocking for both Prodi and (Treasury minister) Ciampi," says Vincenzo Visco, Prodi's finance minister. "During the flight back to Italy ... Ciampi convinced Prodi to try to enter in the first group". Why and how?
In The Room is a series of conversations with officials who played crucial roles in the history of the EU.
Edited and produced by davidstudio.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit twentyfourtwo.substack.com
On 1 June, the European Central Bank will celebrate its 25th birthday. After its tumultuous teenage years, it's easy to forget its first uncertain steps. In this new episode of In The Room, Lex Hoogduin looks back to his time as right-hand man to the ECB's first president - managing the behind-the-scenes politics and developing the strategy - and at how, in his view, the central bank has since strayed from its mandate.
In The Room is a series of conversations with officials who played crucial roles in the history of the EU.
Edited and produced by davidstudio.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit twentyfourtwo.substack.com
As the man who built and ran Europe's financial "firewalls" (the EFSF and ESM) from 2010-2022, Klaus Regling was a central figure in the euro crisis. In this new episode of In The Room, he looks back not just on those 12 tumultuous years but on his time as the European Commission's top economic official and as an architect of Europe's monetary union.
In The Room is a series of conversations with officials who played crucial roles in the recent history of the EU.
Edited and produced by davidstudio.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit twentyfourtwo.substack.com
In 2011, a new Irish coalition took office under Enda Kenny only four months after its predecessor was forced to seek a sovereign bailout. It was left to the Kenny government to pick up the pieces after the collapse of the debt-fuelled “Celtic Tiger” and negotiate a better deal. From 2011-2016,
Andrew McDowell was at Kenny’s side as his head of programme implementation and chief economic adviser – bargaining with (among others) German Chancellor Angela Merkel and two European Central Bank presidents.
In The Room is a series of conversations with officials who played crucial roles in the recent history of the EU.
Glossary: bit.ly/3KduEUe.
Edited and produced by davidstudio.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit twentyfourtwo.substack.com
As the right-hand man to Jean-Claude Juncker (chairman of the Eurogroup from 2005-13) and vice president of the Euro Working Group from 2011-14, Georges Heinrich found himself in the eye of the euro's financial storm in his late-30s. "Eventually, the right decisions were taken. Solidarity did prevail. Everybody chipped in,” he says. “But we had very, very long discussions on how to split the bill or whether to do a runner and leave one or two guys at the table who aren't so fit and who will then have to answer to the police or wash up the dishes".
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit twentyfourtwo.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit twentyfourtwo.substack.com
Ramon Fernandez, the director-general of the French Treasury 2009-14, reminisces on the euro crisis years – the early signals that “something was wrong” in Greece, the calamitous Deauville summit, managing two power centres in Berlin, working with Emmanuel Macron, and bargaining with the European Central Bank.
Edited and produced by davidstudio.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit twentyfourtwo.substack.com
A key member of the European Central Bank's governing council (2004–2018), European Commissioner (1995–2004), negotiator for Finland's accession to the EU (1990–1994), and Finnish finance minister (1987–1990) looks back on an extraordinary three decades and forward to Europe after Ukraine.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit twentyfourtwo.substack.com