The Case for Renewing Transatlantic Capitalism report presentation took place on Monday, March 19 in Warsaw’s Radisson Blu hotel,Poland. The report is a result of collaboration of a high-level group convened by demosEUROPA – Centre for European Strategy (Warsaw), the German Marshall Fund of the United States (Washington, DC), Notre Europe (Paris), Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (Berlin) and European Policy Centre (Brussels). The paper concluded a series of meetings and policy discussions held since the end of 2010 as part of the project on New Atlantic Capitalism. The objective has been to examine the pressing economic challenges facing both the EU and the US as a consequence of the financial crisis, the Great Recession and the crisis in the euro area, focusing on the transatlantic points of convergence and divergence. Dr. Andrew Michta, director of GMF Warsaw office, and Pawel Swieboda, president of demosEUOPA, provided opening remarks during the meeting. The presentation featured a keynote speech on The Future of the Transatlantic Economy delivered by Professor Marek Belka, president of the National Bank of Poland. In his speech Professor Belka affirmed that the current state of the global economy is marked by a competition between transatlantic capitalism and Asian capitalism, but to ask which one is going to prevail is the wrong question to pose. The only thing that the two capitalisms have in common is their obsession with growth. China has no ambition to win; it is a capitalist economy characterized by the lack of liberal movement where the citizens have duties to the society, while free movement of capital and individual rights are at the core of transatlantic capitalism. This situation leads to basic imbalances and layering of the economy. To rectify this, both should revise and rebuild the internal structures and institutions of their systems. What does it mean for the EU, which is at the crossroads of this conflict? The EU needs the global economy to enrich itself, so it will be faced with great difficulties if the global system breaks down. The greatest problem for Europe remains the single currency. “How to devise a system in which a currency can survive when the members of the currency union have different patterns of economic behavior?” Professor Belka asked. In his view, it is necessary to deal with shorter problems, as well as long term obstacles, e.g. unleashing the economic potential of dormant economies such as Italy. Problems like this one have provoked a new line of macroeconomic oversight within EU, namely the excessive imbalances procedure, which is about monitoring imbalances and amending them where possible. Professor Belka’s speech was followed by a presentation about the report’s findings. Mr Świeboda listed four challenges which the project has addressed: debt over-hack (a problem formally resolved with the adoption of the fiscal pact); growth challenge at EU-level as well as at the level of national economies; the sense of inequality stemming largely from the technological advancement; the rise of the financial sector and growing competition which leads to economic inefficiencies and distortion in the system and the transatlantic relationship which has developed in the constantly changing world. Bruce Stokes, GMF senior transatlantic fellow, indicated the main steps recommended for rectifying those challenges. These would include: deeper transatlantic market integration, strengthening transatlantic economic dialogue, development of comprehensive transatlantic network for financial regulation, intensification of energy research collaboration, creation of transatlantic research and innovation space and extensive research on energy and technology. Benchmarking employment and labor market policies to enhance social policy packages is another solution, as well as looking at a common neighborhood (Eastern Europe and North Africa) as a means of developing common markets and to develop global market and regulatory standards. The presentation was followed by a panel discussion "For a New Transatlantic Capitalism", featuring Professor Iain Begg, (London School of Economics), Daniela Schwarzer, (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik), Bruce Stokes and Paweł Świeboda and was moderated by Mark Allen Senior IMF Resident Representative for Central and Eastern Europe at the International Monetary Fund. Ms. Schwarzer agreed with Mr. Belka’s arguments and stressed the need for crystalizing the identity of the euro-zone. She also warned about the risk of falling into an over-protectionist dimension amid current intergovernmental attempts to improve the financial regulatory system. According to Iain Begg, it is crucial to focus on ensuring energy security, as uneven access to global resources has been one of the principal vectors of imbalances among transatlantic states.