Brussels, 06/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Commission's Group of Policy Advisors has established a "Group of Economic Analysis" of 26 high flying economists from the EU and elsewhere. It will meet three or four times a year, under President Prodi's chairmanship, to discuss, together with other relevant Commissioners, selected economic issues. Each meeting of the Group will be divided into two parts - a discussion on a specific theme, and then a discussion of the current economic situation based on working documents drawn up by two Group economists. The first meeting will be held on Thursday and will look at current EU growth potential and prospects for improvement. The first two papers are being prepared by Professor Horst Siebert from the Kiel Institute and Professor Francesco Giavazzi from Bocconi University in Milan.
In 2002, the Group will meet in March, July and December. The Group's steering committee is made up of Commission economists. Ricardo Franco Levi has been appointed as Chair of the Group of Economic Analysis and André Sapir will be the Executive President. The Executive Members are Klaus Regling (Director-General of Economic and Financial Affairs); Antonio De Lecea (Member of President Prodi's Cabinet); Elena Flores (Member of Commissioner Solbes' Cabinet); Mario Nava (Member of the Group of Policy Advisers); and Peter Martin Smith (Member of the Group of Policy Advisers).