On the occasion of their visit, the Faculty organised a round table called "The role of the European Parliament in ending the crisis: A German perspective of the austerity vs. growth debate."

The event was presented by the Dean of the Faculty, Vicent Soler i Marco and counted with the participation of the professors of Economics Cecilio Tamarit Escanola and Javier Quesada Ibáñez.

In his speech, the dean said that the debate was very interesting because the current situation in Europe was discussed with people who come "from where the ideas of Merkel’s government are fabricated." He also highlighted the efforts of the Faculty since its foundation for being among the best in the Spanish research field.

Before the discussion Professor Cecilio Tamarit provided the academic vision necessary to understand the intricacies of the current crisis in Europe, which he described as "typical of a macroeconomics handbook of economic integration."

Thomas Stehling was optimistic about emerging from the crisis "because we are about to change things in Europe as Germany did 10 years ago."

The director of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation criticised the Spanish government’s way of dealing with budget adjustments, as the communications of "every Friday" give a sense of improvisation and indicated that the problem should be diagnosed and its causes analysed in order to design a plan to restore confidence.

Stehling also wanted to emphasise that contrary to public opinion, Germany is supporting countries in trouble and that for that very reason, the German Secretary of State for Finance Steffen Kampeter Steffen has not been able to attend the debate because he had to return to Germany to approve in the parliament a package of measures.

He was followed by MEP Burkhard Balz, who said that "the situation in Europe is extremely serious."

The MEP said he had to be reluctant, as a German MEP, to Eurobonds and that it was unfair to always blame Merkel for rejecting them, because in his opinion an "overwhelming majority" of German voters also reject them, he quantified them at around 70%. Instead "there is not so much opposition to policies of growth," said the member of European parliament.

Although Balz argued that the creation of Eurobonds cannot be ruled out in the medium/long term with a transfer of financial sovereignty and after a long process.

After the round table, attendees could participate in the debate on Question Time. It was moderated by Professor Quesada and was really interesting: he spoke of inadequate interest rates in the years before the crisis and the importance of politics in the creation and way ahead of the European Union.