Interviews

Quotes, comments and interviews given to the media and at public events:

• Podcast The Sound of Economics: Italy and Europe, 18 March 2026

Hungary’s future – The Sound of Economics

In this special episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie speaks with Bruegel’s Zsolt Darvas and Heather Grabbe about the historic Hungarian election of April 2026. Péter Magyar and his TISZA party won in a landslide over the Fidesz party and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has been in power for the past 16 years and changed the course of the European Union. Can Hungary unlock its EU funds and stay within its budget guardrails? What about the energy sector? Will the new government be more transparent about contracts with ties to Chinese and Russian investment? Is Hungary’s outlook on Ukraine likely to change? Will Hungary ever join the euro? How will the winners put together a new government to carry out their campaign promises? The discussion covers all this and more after nearly 80% of Hungarian voters went to the polls. Related research: Darvas, Z. (2026) ‘Hungary’s new beginning – under tight fiscal constraints’, First Glance,13 April, Bruegel. Darvas, Z. (2019) 'With or without you: are central European countries ready for the euro?', Policy Contribution 12/2019, Bruegel. Grabbe, H., J. Pisani-Ferry and J. Zettelmeyer (2025) ‘Updated assessment: Memos to the commissioners responsible for EU foreign, enlargement, and partnerships policies’, First Glance, 30 January, Bruegel. 'Hungary's revived euro adoption prospects', Finance Focus Event, 06 May 2026 with Júlia Király and Nicolas Véron, Bruegel.

• Podcast The Sound of Economics: the evolution of European public goods, 4 December 2024

• European Defence Integration after the US Elections, DCU Brexit Institute, 4 December 2024

• Roundtable on the history of EMU: “The euro is not what we expected it to be.” Discuss!

• Roundtable on the Commission legislative proposal for the new Stability and Growth Pact, 12 June 2023

• Podcast The Sound of Economics: The idea of Europe: more than a feeling?, 16 April 2021

• Interviewed for the article ‘MMT has a big hurdle to overcome to succeed in Europe’, Bloomberg, 7 September 2019

• J’ai répondu aux questions de Pierre Wolf-Mandroux pour un article publié dans La Croix/Magazine Pèlerin: “Europe, des historiens réfutent Philippe de Villiers”, 23 April 2019

• J’ai signé une tribune collective publiée dans Le Monde: “Philippe de Villiers et la falsification de l’histoire de l’Union”, 27 mars 2019

• J’ai répondu aux questions de Politique Etrangère sur le Brexit, le 25 janvier 2019

• ‘Conversations for the Future of Europe‘: I discussed two proposals on the future of European monetary union, 5 March 2019

• ‘Au bout du jour’: j’ai répondu aux questions d’Eddy Caekelberghs sur la RTBF, 17 January 2019

• Roundtable speaker at the event Brexit Countdown: The Deal, the Politics and the Future, Edinburgh University European Union Society, Edinburgh, 4 December 2018

• Participation aux Journées de l’Économie à Lyon, 8 November 2018

• Interviewed for the article ‘No Sleep Till Brexit’, Bloomberg, 1 November 2018

• Oral history interview of Jean-Claude Trichet, in the framework of the EU historical archives’ Leaders Beyond the State Collection

• Oral history interview of Jean-Claude Trichet, in the framework of the EU historical archives’ Leaders Beyond the State Collection

• Panel ‘Leaders Beyond the State’, an Interview with former ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet, EUI, Florence, 16 February 2018

• Conversations on the Future of Europe, Bruegel, Brussels, 22 March 2017

• Bruegel Podcast, The Sound of Economics: Special Edition, The Treaty of Rome at 60

• Interviewed for the article “What the Bundesbank can teach the ECB about winning public respect”, Bloomberg, 15 January 2017

• “The UK already opts out of anything it dislikes; it could very well end up leaving the EU on an entirely flawed debate,” interviewed by Claudia Schrag Sternberg for University College London’s Britain & Europe, 20 October 2015

• Bruegel Policy Contribution quoted in ‘Britain wins EU games and set but match never ends‘, Reuters, 21 June 2015

• Talk at the European Business Summit, in Brussels, on 7 May 2015

• Interviewed for the Bulgarian TV station News 7 for the current affairs programme “Pincode”, on Sunday 4 May 2014, about the development of the Eurozone banking union.

• La zone euro est-elle viable? Une perspective historique, for the website La Vie des Idées, 20 May 2014

• The past and future of the EU: an interview with EurActiv, 7 April 2014

• Intervention introductive, table-ronde “la zone euro est-elle viable?”, Institut français de Vienne, 3 avril 2014

• La semaine historique d’Emmanuel Laurentin, 20 February 2014, quotes my post on the Guéant archives

• Could Déjà Vu Spell Trouble for a Eurozone Banking Union? Wall Street Journal, 17 January 2014