Hi!
Today we have had two meetings. The first one was with the Bundesbank (the German central bank). Firstly, the meeting was an introduction of the work Bundensbank does and how the Eurozone works. The lecturer discussed the positive and negative aspects of the collaboration and how the current corona crisis affects fiscal policies. She also mentioned how the lack of digitalization in Germany is visible in this area. Although I am not a student in economics and it is neither one of my main interests, I found this lecture very educational and interesting; especially when she talked about how she thought how it would affect Sweden if we entered the Eurozone.
Furthermore, in the afternoon we had a meeting with the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). They explain themselves like this:
“The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is an award-winning international think-tank that aims to conduct cutting-edge independent research on European foreign and security policy and to provide a safe meeting space for decision-makers, activists and influencers to share ideas. We build coalitions for change at the European level and promote informed debate about Europe’s role in the world.”
The meeting was about the ECFR’s work and agenda. I learned a lot about think tanks, how they differentiate from academia and policymakers, and also their importance in Europe. One of the people who had the meeting was there during her internship; her thoughts and experiences about this were also inspiring. I found the project she was working with the most interesting, it was about European relationships with the MENA – region.
We had two more meetings today, but unfortunately, they were canceled due to rising corona infections.
This evening we are going to go to a Vietnamese restaurant. Sadly, this is our last activity together. Tomorrow we are going back to Lund.
Hugs,
Cajsa
About ECFR. (n.d.). The European Council on Foreign Relations. Received from: https://ecfr.eu/about/