On 11 November 2026, Latvijas Banka will hold its annual economic conference "From Policy to Impact. Europe's Economic Future" at the National Library of Latvia. It will bring together leading figures from the European financial sector.
The conference will be opened by Mārtiņš Kazāks, Member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) and Governor of Latvijas Banka. Keynote speeches will be delivered by Joachim Nagel, Member of the Governing Council of the ECB and President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, and Maria Luís Albuquerque, EU Commissioner for Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union.
The conference will examine the most pressing challenges facing the euro area economy and its most important player, Germany, in the new geopolitical environment. Given the high degree of integration across European economies, these challenges have significant implications for the outlook of smaller Member States, including Latvia. At the conference, particular emphasis will be placed on the policy actions needed to address these issues and their potential translation into tangible improvements in the daily lives of European citizens and businesses.
The conference programme will be structured around two panel discussions. The first panel discussion will broaden the debate to cover the key economic challenges in the euro area, viewed from the perspective of its largest economies, with a strong emphasis on policy responses and practical solutions. It will also connect the experiences of the euro area's largest economies with the challenges and opportunities in the smaller euro area economies, such as Latvia. Speakers: Joachim Nagel, Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Director of Bruegel, Roberts Zīle, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Klaas Knot, former President of De Nederlandsche Bank, Member of the Systemic Risk Council CFA Institute, and Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. The discussion will be moderated by Andris Strazds, Deputy Governor of Latvijas Banka.
The second panel discussion will focus on the initiatives to strengthen the integration of the European financial system. It will link complex financial sector reforms to the everyday experiences of European citizens, illustrating what market fragmentation means in practice for households and small businesses, and how proposed reforms could improve their daily economic lives. Maria Luís Albuquerque, Alfred Kammer, Director of the European Department at the International Monetary Fund, Agnès Bénassy-Quéré, Deputy Governor of the Banque de France and member of the Bruegel board, and Joe Heneghan, Revolut Holdings Europe CEO will participate in the discussion. The discussion will be moderated by Kārlis Vilerts, Head of the Research Division at Latvijas Banka.
The conference will be held at the National Library of Latvia on Wednesday, 11 November, from 10:00 to 14:20. Detailed information on the conference will be available on the website at https://conference.bank.lv/. Media representatives are also invited to attend the event in person and follow the discussions by registering via email at
The topic of the conference is addressed in an article by Latvijas Banka's economists Baiba Brusbārde and Linda Oliņa on structural reforms in Germany and their impact on Europe (available in Latvian): https://www.makroekonomika.lv/raksti/vai-vacijas-triljona-eiro-vertais-eksperiments-partaps-attistiba. As the conference approaches, additional articles related to the topics of the conference discussions will be published on Latvijas Banka's thematic website macroeconomics.lv.