The current sovereign debt crisis in several euro area countries has evolved from the preceding financial and credit crises emanating from the US mortgage market. The dynamics of the present situation are part of a vicious circle of interaction between banks and sovereign, against which forceful measures have to be taken. For this reason significant fiscal consolidation is being undertaken by member states on recommendations from the European Commission, which advocates a mix of expenditures cuts and revenue increases that optimises the impact of these efforts.

Presented by: Peter Bekx, Director of International Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission’s Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs.

Peter Bekx, a Belgian national, is the Director of International Economic and Financial Affairs in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs. Prior to that, Peter has been the director of Business Statistics in Eurostat. Peter Bekx graduated in Economics from the Free University of Brussels (VUB), where he also obtained a M. Sc. in Statistics and Econometrics and a doctorate in Economics. He was Professor of Economics at the Free University of Brussels for six years.

In 1985, he joined the European Commission, where he held a number of posts in the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs, including a four-year period as the Head of the Economic and Financial section of the Commission’s Delegation in Washington DC. From 2002 to 2006, Peter was the deputy head of cabinet of the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs. Peter Bekx has published extensively on various topics related to monetary integration, exchange rate regimes, and econometric modelling.

Venue: ANU Centre for European Studies, 1 Liversidge Street (Bldg 67C), Canberra

Parking: please see the Visitor Parking Map 
RSVP: [email protected] by Friday 13 July 2012

ANUCES is an initiative involving four ANU Colleges (Arts and Social Sciences, Law, Business and Economics, and Asia and the Pacific) co-funded by the ANU and the European Union.

--

European Union Centre at RMIT
Building 5, Level 2, Room 21
T:   +61 3 9925 8214
F:   +61 3 9925 8820
E:   eucentre@rmit.edu.au