On 8 May 2020, the European University Institute will host a special online edition of its The State of the Union Conference. Policy-makers, scholars, and experts will discuss how Europe is managing the COVID-19 crisis, and the impact of the pandemic on health policies, the international economic outlook, and global cooperation.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, and European Council President Charles Michel are among the prominent speakers.

In a matter of weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the lives of billions of people across the world. Health care systems are struggling, and lockdown measures are affecting social life and the economy in an unprecedented way.

While the world is trying to make sense of the emergency, The State of the Union Conference will gather experts from all over the world to discuss the implications of COVID-19 in three live- streamed webinars.

The morning session (from 10:00 CEST), COVID-19: Health Policy and Society, will be opened by EUI President Renaud Dehousse, followed by institutional welcomes by Dario Nardella, Mayor of Florence, Enrico Rossi, Governor of the Region of Tuscany, and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio. The opening speeches will be followed by the first panel debate, moderated by Ellen M. Immergut, featuring Andrea Ammon, Dorit Nitzan and Xuejie Yu.

The afternoon session (from 13:00 CEST), COVID-19: Economic Policies for the Aftermath, will be opened by a high-level address by Christine Lagarde, followed by a conversation between European Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni and Financial Times Editor Roula Khalaf. This in turn will be followed by a panel debate between OECD Chief Economist Laurence Boone , former Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem, and LSE Professor Ricardo Reis. The panel will be moderated by George Papaconstantinou.

The evening session (17:30 CEST) will be opened by Kristalina Georgieva in conversation with FT’s Roula Khalaf. The third and final panel debate, COVID-19: Global Cooperation, will be moderated by Nathalie Tocci, Director of the Italian Institute for International Affairs, and will feature Prof. Jeffrey Sachs from Columbia University, former Finnish PM and new Director of the EUI’s School of Transnational Governance Alexander Stubb, and Mari E. Pangestu, Managing Director for Development and Partnerships at the World Bank. The closing high-level address of the conference will be delivered by Giuseppe Conte.