Finance and Economy
Four think tanks have joined EFA24 as Reporting Partners, each tasked with a single goal: to summarize and reflect on the key issues within our main thematic tracks - Climate, Democracy and the Rule of Law, Finance and Economy, and Security.
Our reporting partners - Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES) (Security Track), Bruegel - Improving economic policy (Finance & Economy Track), Europe Jacques Delors (Democracy & the Rule of Law Track) and KONTEXT Institut für Klimafragen (Climate Track) - followed the discussions closely to capture the key insights. Their observations serve as a foundation for our conversations at the European Forum Alpbach 2025.
For the Finance and Economy track, our reporting partner Bruegel has prepared a compelling report that tackles Europe’s pressing economic issues. In alignment with our annual theme “Moment of Truth”, this report calls for unified and urgent action on challenges such as inequality, AI’s impact on labour markets, financing the green transition, and fostering financial market sustainability.
Get a glimpse of the key insights:
The Evolution of Inequality
Over the past two to three decades, inequality within countries has been growing, while the previous convergence between poorer and richer countries may have slowed down due to emerging conflicts or the impact of automation and technological change. However, the different levels of inequality within market economies highlight the potential for government intervention to address these disparities.
Financing the Green Transition
Europe has a long-term strategy for the green transition, and now is the time to implement it. The strategy requires significant investments, but this funding cannot come from the public nor the private sector alone. Strengthening the EU’s capital markets union and enhancing regulatory frameworks to attract investment will be critical.
The Future of Work: AI and Automation
Despite the predictions that we would run out of jobs due to technological change, employment rates remain robust. The challenge now lies in balancing consumer protection and innovation. Europe must craft regulations that safeguard personal rights while fostering economic growth in the face of rapid AI and automation advancements.
Defence
Europe finds itself confronting war once again, with Russia posing the most significant threat to democratic European nations. European defence needs higher trans-national cooperation and more common action, so that European competitors have bigger scale and remain competitive in the global market. Unified capital markets will again be key so that the higher levels of short- and long-term investments needed can be achieved.
Finance
Demographic shifts are pressuring Europe’s pension systems and welfare states. Governments need to design systems that guarantee both intergenerational fairness and fiscal sustainability, while also improving personal investment behaviour, for instance through higher levels of financial literacy.