Thomas Wieser | |
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| Born | 1954 (age 69–70) Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Innsbruck University of Colorado, Boulder |
Thomas Wieser (born 1954) is an American-Austrian economist working for the European Union. He was the president of Economic and Financial Committee (EFC) of the EU as well as the president of the Eurogroup Working Group (EWG), both advisory bodies of the Eurogroup, until February 2018. [1]
Between 2005 and 2009, Wieser chaired the OECD Committee on Financial Markets. [1] Wieser became Vice-President of Economic and Financial Committee of the European Union (EFC) in November 2005. He went on to serve his first term as the president of the committee from March 2009 to March 2011. [1]
Prior to October 2011, Wieser was Director General for Economic Policy and Financial Markets in the Ministry of Finance, Austria. [1] In October 2011, Wieser became the full time president of the Eurogroup Working Group (EWG), an advisory body to the Eurogroup. [2] In January 2012, Wieser started his second term as the president of the EFC [1] [3] of the European Union, he retain presidency of the EWG. [1]
Explaining his negotiating role Wieaser has stated: [4]
I am something like a marriage counsellor who tries – between two or several partners, if one accepts polygamy – to achieve a common understanding of things and seeks to make sure that perational implementation gets underway
The EFC/EWG prepares Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) decisions [5] particularly on eurozone affairs, as the informal eurozone bodies were gradually given more official roles. [6] In 2014, Wieser stated that Europe was having an economic recovery but competitiveness should be strengthened, bank balance sheets should be improved and fiscal deficits reduced. [7]
In 2019, Wieser chaired a “High-Level Group of Wise Persons” appointed by the Council of the European Union and charged with drafting recommendations on how to reform existing financial instruments for sustainable development managed by the European Commission, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). [8] [9]
Former Greek minister of finance Yanis Varoufakis has claimed that Wieser holds considerable power within the Eurogroup, stating he "has been part of every policy and every coup that resulted in Greece’s immolation and Europe’s ignominy." [12] Sven Giegold, MEP of the German Green Party, has stated in his correspondence with Varoufakis that Wieser "is acting under the auspices of representatives of all finance ministries in the Eurozone which form the Eurozone Working Group.[ sic ]" [13]
Reflecting on the actions of the Troika in an interview with German journalists, Wieser blamed an excessively high minimum wage in Greece for the decrease in employment in the exporting sector. [14]
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The economic and monetary union (EMU) of the European Union is a group of policies aimed at converging the economies of member states of the European Union at three stages.
The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) is a special purpose vehicle financed by members of the eurozone to address the European sovereign-debt crisis. It was agreed by the Council of the European Union on 9 May 2010, with the objective of preserving financial stability in Europe by providing financial assistance to eurozone states in economic difficulty. The Facility's headquarters are in Luxembourg City, as are those of the European Stability Mechanism. Treasury management services and administrative support are provided to the Facility by the European Investment Bank through a service level contract. Since the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism, the activities of the EFSF are carried out by the ESM.
The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is an intergovernmental organization located in Luxembourg City, which operates under public international law for all eurozone member states having ratified a special ESM intergovernmental treaty. It was established on 27 September 2012 as a permanent firewall for the eurozone, to safeguard and provide instant access to financial assistance programmes for member states of the eurozone in financial difficulty, with a maximum lending capacity of €500 billion. It has replaced two earlier temporary EU funding programmes: the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM).
Jeroen René Victor Anton Dijsselbloem is a Dutch politician and economist serving as Mayor of Eindhoven since 13 September 2022, succeeding John Jorritsma (VVD). A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), he has also been Chairman of the supervisory board of Wageningen University since 1 April 2019.
Ioannis Georgiou "Yanis" Varoufakis is a Greek economist and politician. Since 2018, he has been Secretary-General of Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), a left-wing pan-European political party he co-founded in 2016. Previously, he was a member of Syriza and was Greece's Minister of Finance between January 2015 and July 2015, negotiating on behalf of the Greek government during the 2009-2018 Greek government-debt crisis.
A Greek withdrawal from the eurozone was a hypothetical scenario, debated mostly in the early to mid 2010s, under which Greece would withdraw from the Eurozone to deal with the Greek government-debt crisis of the time. This conjecture was given the nickname "Grexit", a portmanteau combining the English words 'Greek' and 'exit', and which has been expressed in Greek as ellexodos. The term "Graccident" was coined for the case that Greece exited the EU and the euro unintentionally. These terms first came into use in 2012 and have been revitalised at each of the bailouts made available to Greece after that.
The Economic Adjustment Programme for Cyprus, usually referred to as the Bailout programme, is a memorandum of understanding on financial assistance to the Republic of Cyprus in order to cope with the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis.
Euclid Stefanou Tsakalotos is a Greek economist and politician who was Minister of Finance of Greece from 2015 to 2019. He was also a member of the Central Committee of Syriza and has represented Athens B in the Hellenic Parliament since May 2012. He left Syriza in November 2023 and on 5 December 2023 he became founding member of New Left (Greece) parliamentary group.
Nicholas Theocarakis, also transcribed as Nikos Theocharakis, is a Greek economist and professor of economics at Athens University. He is the author of several books and contributions on economic theory and history of economic thought.
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The Troika is a term used to refer to the single decision group created by three entities, the European Commission (EC), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It was formed due to the European debt crisis as an ad hoc authority with a mandate to manage the bailouts of Cyprus, Greece, Ireland and Portugal, in the aftermath of their prospective insolvency caused by the world financial crisis of 2007–2008.
The Democracy in Europe Movement 2025, or DiEM25, is a left-wing European political alliance founded in 2016. It operates as a pan-European umbrella for subsidiary parties sharing the same name and branding, and runs electoral lists with other affiliated parties. Despite its organisation and sometimes being referred to as a "European party" or "transnational party", DiEM25 does not meet the requirements to register as a European political party.
The Economic and Financial Committee (EFC) is a European Union advisory body, defined by the article 134 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Its president is also the president of the Eurogroup Working Group, which prepares dossiers for approval by the Eurogroup, whose decisions are generally ratified by ECOFIN.
Eurogroup Working Group (EWG) is an advisory body to the Eurogroup of the European Union. It is composed of representatives of the euro area member states of the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), the European Commission and the European Central Bank. The President of the Eurogroup Working Group is Tuomas Saarenheimo, who entered the job in April 2020 and is also the President of the EFC. Previously, the posts had been held by Hans Vijlbrief and Thomas Wieser.
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Tuomas Saarenheimo is a Finnish civil servant, who currently serves as the President of the Eurogroup Working Group.
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