Inflation Preparedness in the EU

On Wednesday, 3 September 2025, from 14:00 – 17:30 (CET), the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) will host an event organised by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), in cooperation with Fondazione Pietro Nenni and tasc, discussing lessons learned from the recent inflation episode and the new inflation governance framework that needs to be developed to prevent or mitigate the supply side inflation shocks in the future.

The recent inflation episode in 2021-23 has exposed the vulnerability of European economies to supply-side shocks and the inadequacy of existing monetary tools to deal with them. Moreover, companies used their monopoly power, amplified due to bottlenecks and supply disruptions, to reap abnormally high profits, thus exacerbating the initial inflationary effects of the shocks. The failure to deal with inflation in a timely manner led to a very painful cost-of-living crisis, still affecting many households.

The EU needs to create an inflation governance framework that would involve not just ECB monetary policy, but a complex of measures on inflation preparedness, prevention, reduction and mitigation. This framework can include price controls, income support, excess profit taxes, limiting speculation, increasing price transparency, building strategic reserves, and reducing fossil fuel dependency, among many more others.

The event will start with a presentation of FEPS recent policy study on the topic, focusing on inflation in energy and food – the sectors with largest systemic significance and key to the cost-of-living crisis. In a second session, we will discuss what a new inflation governance framework should look like and how to develop it.

The event is public and will be livestreamed.

For those who wish to join in person, please register here.