ECB Legal Conference 2025

Registration and coffee

Welcome address

Chiara Zilioli, Director General of Legal Services, European Central Bank

Panel 1
Building budgetary autonomy

Budgetary autonomy is typically associated with the power to issue debt, tax and control expenditure. However, in the original Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) plan, this form of EU autonomy was limited. Recent challenges have revived debates on EU-level borrowing and taxation. This panel will examine existing funding tools like the multiannual financial framework (MFF) and the NextGenerationEU (NGEU), as well as defence-related mechanisms such as the European Peace Facility. It will also address the increasing linkage between EU funding and the enforcement of foundational values, as underscored by the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation, and the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice.  

Chair: Philip R. Lane, Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank

Panellists:

• Paul Dermine, Professor, Université Libre de Bruxelles
• Alberto de Gregorio Merino, Principal Legal Advisers, European Commission
• Cristina Fasone, Assistant Professor, School of Government Luiss Guido Carli

Discussion with questions from the audience

Lunch break

Panel 2
Autonomy through the internal market and the capital markets union

In light of current challenges to international trade, deepening the internal market has become crucial to enhancing the EU’s autonomy. This panel will examine how this context influences the law of the internal market, with a special focus on current debates around the capital markets union (CMU), which is key not only for productivity but also for funding EU economic autonomy. The discussion will also cover recent proposals for a savings and investment union. It will also extend to critical aspects of EU emergency law, such as the Internal Market Emergency and Resilience Act (IMERA) and other relevant internal market instruments, such as the Chips Act and the recent European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS).

Chair: Isabel Schnabel, Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank

Panellists:

• Catherine Barnard, Professor, University of Cambridge
• Emanuele Rebasti, Senior Legal Advisor, Legal Services, Council of the European Union
• Larisa Dragomir, Member of Cabinet of Maria Luís Albuquerque, European Commission

Discussion with questions from the audience

Coffee break

Panel 3
Resilience, autonomy and cooperation in payments and clearing systems

Enhancing payment and clearing infrastructures and their resilience are cornerstones of European autonomy within a changing geopolitical environment. Projects such as the European Payments Initiative and services such as TIPS aim to enhance retail payment independence but face challenges in adoption and competitiveness. Regulatory proposals like PSD3 and PSR seek to reduce fragmentation and foster innovation, particularly by opening the market to non-bank actors. However, their capacity to deliver full payment sovereignty remains limited. The discussion will also address the resilience of critical infrastructures, including CCPs, in light of legislative measures such as DORA and NIS2 as well as soft law instruments such as TIBER and guidance from the CPMI, which further reflect the EU’s evolving regulatory approach.

Chair: Piero Cipollone, Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank

Panellists:

• Douglas Arner, Professor, University of Hong Kong
• Dessislava Guetcheva-Cheytanova, General Counsel, Bank for International Settlements
• Ruth Wandhöfer, NED, Adviser & Visiting Professor, Bayes Business School

Discussion with questions from the audience

Closing Speech

Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB

End of conference day 1

Reception and Dinner – by invitation only

Dinner speech

Christine Lagarde, President, European Central Bank

Registration and coffee

Panel 4
Exterritoriality, equivalence, and mutual recognition

This panel examines various forms of cross-border interaction between legal systems, including extraterritorial inspections, mutual recognition of administrative decisions, and regulatory equivalence. It will explore how the EU can develop effective legal tools to counteract the unwarranted extraterritorial reach of third-country laws while ensuring the enforcement of its own rules. Particular attention will be given to banking supervision, such as when third-country authorities intervene with EU-based institutions or the ECB conducts inspections abroad. The panel will also consider the EMIR regime for central counterparties and the recognition of decisions in crisis management. The panel will examine whether such interactions are still viable in the current environment or if a new paradigm is emerging in which the effects of decisions made in one jurisdiction are actively blocked in others.

Chair: [pending]

Panellists:

• George Johnston, Deputy General Counsel, Bank of England
• Maria Raffaella Assetta, Head of Unit, DG for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, European Commission
• Matthias Lehmann, Professor, University of Vienna 

Discussion with questions from the audience

Coffee break

Panel 5
Navigating sanctions, tariffs, and blocking statutes

This panel tackles the intricate challenges posed by sanctions and tariffs in the realm of international cooperation, also exploring how these instruments contribute to geoeconomic fragmentation. It will debate the boundaries and implications of the national security exception in economic public international law, e.g. under WTO law. What is the assessment and classification of the so-called ‘monetary tariffs’ under international and EU law? The panel will further investigate the extent to which the theory of countermeasures under public international law may legitimise economic sanctions. Additionally, the role and function of blocking statutes in both the EU and the US will be explored, highlighting their significance in countering the extraterritorial effects of foreign sanctions.

Chair: Juliane Kokott, Advocate General, Court of Justice of the European Union [tbc]

Panellists:

• Christoph Herrmann, Professor, Universität Passau
• Frank Hoffmeister, Director of Legal Department, European External Action Service
• Laila Medina, Advocate General, Court of Justice of the European Union

Discussion with questions from the audience

Buffet lunch

Panel 6
Independent administrative discretion and the rule of law

One basic element of an ascending paradigm of governance is mistrust of non-majoritarian institutions such as courts, agencies, and central banks. This mistrust materialises through challenges to the independence of such institutions or the curtailing of their discretion. This panel will compare developments in the EU and US in this area focusing both on legislative measures and the case-law of the CJEU and US Supreme Court. For example, the reversal of the Chevron doctrine by the Supreme Court in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo will be compared with the approach of the CJEU in cases such as Credit lyonnais. At a more conceptual level, the panel will discuss how non-majoritarian institutions are a constitutional component of Western democracies.

Chair: Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB [tbc]

Panellists:

• Nicholas Emiliou, Advocate General, Court of Justice of the European Union
• Pedro Machado, Member of the Supervisory Board of the ECB
• Mariolina Eliantonio, Professor, Maastricht University

Discussion with questions from the audience

Coffee break

Roundtable
The role of the EU legal services in building EU autonomy

The panel examines the role of the legal services of the EU institutions in building EU autonomy. Considering that the EU paradigm of autonomy is based on law, institutions, and international cooperation, the legal services of EU institutions have to take into account different perspectives. They need to advise in line with domestic law—and in a context where legal challenges are not typical, this role is more important. They need to be vigilant to protect the independence of their institutions, and in a non-majoritarian populist context, that might be a significant challenge on its own. They also need to ensure the respect of international norms and the infrastructure of global cooperation. All this while addressing new problems that require new solutions. This panel will discuss the role and challenges of legal services in combining this triad of perspectives.

Chair: Chiara Zilioli, Director General of Legal Services, European Central Bank

Panellists:

• Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director-General of the Legal Service, European Commission
• Freddy Drexler, Jurisconsult, European Parliament
• Lucía Arranz, Director of Legal, Banco de España
• Yan Liu, General Counsel, International Monetary Fund

Discussion with questions from the audience

Concluding remarks and closing of the conference

Chiara Zilioli, Director General of Legal Services, European Central Bank

End of conference