European Commission Conference
The Blueprint for a deep and genuine EMU:
Debating the future economic, monetary,
banking and political union
Brussels, Tuesday 7 May 2013
I have great pleasure in inviting you to be represented at a major one-day European Commission
conference in Brussels on
Tuesday 7 May
which will debate the "Blueprint for a deep and genuine
EMU".
In publishing the 'Blueprint' in November 2012, the European Commission demonstrated its
commitment to advancing the debate on the future of economic and monetary union. It led the way
by providing a vision for a strong and stable architecture in the financial, fiscal, economic and
political domains.
At this conference, European leaders and stakeholders will outline and debate in depth the
Blueprint's principles and vision. We will discuss what it means for the citizens of Europe and how
best we can ensure not only that they understand the key questions, but also how the process can be
supported by a reinforcing of democratic accountability in Europe.
The conference programme, a draft of which can be found following the link below*, will feature
key speakers from Member State governments, the European Parliament, national parliaments and
other stakeholders. It will focus on economic governance, banking union and the question of
democratic legitimacy and accountability. The President of the European Commission, José
Manuel Barroso will deliver the keynote opening speech. This will be followed by a round table
discussion with the Vice-President of the European Commission, Olli Rehn, the Chairman of the
Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, and the Finance Minister of Portugal, Vitor Gaspar.
There are key questions and topical issues being debated at the conference and we believe it is
important that there is good representation from the national parliament. We hope, therefore, that
you will be in a position to nominate up to two elected representatives from your chamber. In this
way, we hope that the views of national Members of Parliament will be heard clearly.