🎓 The EUFIS Chair is presented at a key moment

Coming at a moment in time that could mark a turning point in the EU, our university has publicly presented its new Jean Monnet on Fiscal Integration in the UE (EUFIS). The event was held at the headquarters of the Representation of the European Comission in Barcelona. 

The presentation was attended by the director of the Representation of the European Commission in Spain, Francisco Fonseca, who spoke about how important the Chair’s purpose is: “This is the step we’re missing”. 

Our rector, Rafael Rodríguez-Ponga, has referred to the pro-European vocation of the University and the fact that the new chair will allow us “to advance in our international studies”.

For his part, the director of the EUFIS Chair, Juan Corona, defended the need to strive for tax harmonisation among member states. The aim is to prevent divergence between tax systems from creating “distortions” in the functioning of the single market. These dysfunctions include “capital movements due to differences in tax regimes”. 

Corona believes that the institutions need to head up this fiscal integration. Experience shows that market dynamics “do not, on their own, harmonise” the taxation of individual Member States. “The European institutions must intervene” and, in his opinion, they must do so urgently. As he said, recommendations are not enough; action must be taken through the instrument of directives, although he acknowledged that the adoption of a regulation this far-reaching would present sizeable difficulties. 

Jean Monnet Chair

The new chair is associated with Jean Monnet, and was one of the projects selected for financing by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission, from among 1,447 applications. 

UAO CEU hopes this Chair will serve to develop research, teaching and dissemination of activities on topics related to the European Union. Over the next three years, it will be financed by European competitive funds awarded in the Erasmus+ call for Jean Monnet activities in 2020. 

The project has three main objectives: to provide students with in-depth knowledge of the European system; to develop research projects specialising in European studies; and to act as a vehicle for transmitting knowledge about European integration to high school students, local and regional political elites and civil society in general.

The moment of fiscal integration

As part of this general pro-European vision, it will focus more specifically on the area of fiscal integration between EU countries, mainly between members of the Eurogroup. 

The Chair’s promoters believe that fiscal integration is one of the great challenges facing the Eurozone after having undertaken monetary union. They also point out that the EU’s response to the crisis resulting from the pandemic has included decisions that mark important milestones in this direction. The increase in the EU budget and, for the first time, approval of debt instruments pooled among states are qualitative steps that could mark a stage of greater, faster fiscal integration.