Opening Remarks by Alfred Kammer, IMF European Department Director, for the Annual EU Budget Conference Thank you for the opportunity to join this important discussion today on the EU budget. Europe stands at a transformative crossroads. The global environment is increasingly complex, and structural changes are reshaping the foundations of European economies. The challenges before us are significant: strengthening productivity and resilience amid demographic aging and rising geopolitical and trade tensions while increasing defense spending in a fiscally sustainable way, and...

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Prepared by Maurizio Michael Habib, Oscar Schwartz Blicke, Emilio Siciliano and Jonas Wendelborn Gold prices have seen an unprecedented surge since 2023, reaching a series of all-time highs. Gold has a long history as a store of value. Given its limited industrial use, demand for gold comes traditionally from retail customers (e.g. for jewellery), although it is also employed as an investment asset and used by central banks as a reserve asset. From an investment perspective, gold differs from other asset classes....

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The EU economy began 2025 on a somewhat stronger footing than anticipated. It is projected to keep growing at a modest rate this year, with growth expected to pick up in 2026, despite heightened global policy uncertainty and trade tensions.  The Commission's Spring 2025 Economic Forecast projects real GDP to grow by 1.1% in 2025 in the EU and 0.9% in the euro area, broadly the same pace as recorded in 2024. In 2026, growth is expected to accelerate to...

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I. Introduction 1. In view of the United Kingdom - European Union summit of 19 May 2025, the European Commission and the United Kingdom explored areas with the potential to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the European Union and the United Kingdom (1). This Common Understanding between the European Commission and the United Kingdom sets out the conclusions of those exploratory talks. We will proceed swiftly on the undertakings set out in this document, in accordance with our respective procedures and...

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Interview with Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, conducted by Marie-Pierre Gröndahl on 8 May 2025 The new US President’s first 100 days in office have been a period of economic and financial chaos. What’s the best response to all of this chaos and disruption? President Trump taking office changed the state of play in three key areas at once: the economy, politics and defence. These have been three key pillars of international cooperation in the increasingly globalised world of recent...

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My dear friend Edi, Thank you very much for convening us here. The changes we are living through are historic, without any question. When the Wall fell in 1989, the end of history was proclaimed, and we assumed that economic and political freedom would eventually converge and that this would unite people. Now, as we are here today, history is back, and so are geopolitics. What we had perceived as a world order, is becoming a world disorder, triggered not least...

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