|| This seminar is open ONLY to EUI members ||

Join us for the next event of the 'Finance in the Tuscan Hills' seminar series, where we host Lucia Quaglia, Professor of Political Science at the University of Bologna.

Whereas the European Union, under the aegis of the European Central Bank, has taken major strides toward the introduction of a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC), it is lagging behind, also compared to other major jurisdictions, concerning the development of a wholesale CBDC, which is, financially, more important. Why? Professor Quaglia account for this puzzling outcome by combining two theoretical approaches that have seldom been employed jointly: geoeconomics and bureaucratic politics. Empirically, she demonstrate that a geoeconomic rationale, specifically, concerns about ‘monetary sovereignty’ and ‘strategic autonomy’ of critical financial market infrastructures in Europe, as well as the desire to increase the international role of the euro, explains the drive towards a wholesale digital euro. At the same time, bureaucratic politics, to be precise, competing models sponsored by the main national central banks in Europe account for the slow progress towards a wholesale digital euro.

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Lucia Quaglia (DPhil Sussex, MA Sussex) is Professor of Political Science at the University of Bologna. Previously, she was Professor at the University of York (2012-2017). She has published 10 books, 8 of which with Oxford University Press and has guest co-edited 6 special issues of academic journals. She has published more than 60 articles in refereed academic journals in the fields of public policy, political economy, and EU studies. 

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The FBF seminar series ‘Finance in the Tuscan Hills’ focuses on financial sector issues and aims to bring together researchers from across the EUI community, who share an interest in these subjects.