Economic Problems in 2023 Explained: A Centre-right Approach

Key takeaways: 

• The monetary policy in today’s world is to control inflation through interest rates. 
• When one comes to speak about the economy, he/she has to go back to the financial crisis which lasted up until 2014. 
• The economic outlook today is very uncertain, where there is lower and negative growth, a possible recession. However, the good news is that inflation is finally starting to come down and by the end of the year, one should be looking at inflation to stand at 5-6%. 
• The Centre-right approach in this regard is that high stability is the key component and if price levels cannot be controlled, one is in serious trouble. In fact, in the long-term, budgets must be at a more stable level. 

On the 9th of February, YPFP Brussels hosted an in-person panel discussion in collaboration with the Martens Centre “Economic Issues faced in 2023 Explained: A Centre-Right Approach”. This was the first event forming part of a Multiple-Event Initiative (which will look into bringing forth various political perspectives at the EU level in 2023) with the aim of shedding light on the politics and the simplified reasoning surrounding the economic issues that have dictated our day-to-day lives. This discussion was organised by Petra Grech, Director of the Programmes Team in collaboration with Dr. Peter Hefele, Policy Director at the Martens Centre. It was then moderated by Linn Sommerhoff, Programmes Officer, and Louis Bout, SecDef Officer, participated as a panelist representing the youthful perspective when it comes to Economic Issues. 

The event was initiated with an introduction delivered by Petra Grech, Linn Sommerhoff and Dr. Peter Hefele. This was then followed by an intervention from Dr. Hefele, Dr. Drea and Mr. Bout respectively, with the first two speakers making reference to key economic issues in line with the Centre-right perspective and Louis adopting a neutral view from a youthful standpoint. 

Subsequently, in the last 20-30 minutes of the session, the audience were given the opportunity to raise their own questions which were directed towards the speakers. All in all, this transpired to be a healthy exchange of views amongst the panelists as well as the audience, where the former gave their views and constructive feedback on what was asked. 

Author: Petra Grech, Director of the Programmes Team at YPFP Brussels