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Webinar on EU Competitiveness - Webinar

EUROPE’S COMPETITIVENESS AGENDA: CAPITAL, CONVERGENCE AND THE CEE PERSPECTIVE

17 July 2026
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Online webinar on the European Commission’s forthcoming report on the competitiveness of the EU banking sector and its place in Europe’s wider competitiveness agenda. The discussion will examine capital mobilisation, banking capacity, prudential policy, investment needs and convergence, with a particular focus on what these debates mean for Central and Eastern Europe.

15:00 - 16:00(CEST)

About

About the Event

In mid-July 2026, the European Commission is expected to publish its report on the competitiveness of the EU banking sector. The report arrives at a moment when the EU is trying to answer a larger question: whether its financial system can provide the capital, scale and intermediation capacity needed to support investment, growth and economic security.

For Central and Eastern Europe, this debate has a specific weight. The region remains more dependent on bank financing than deeper capital markets, while investment needs remain high across infrastructure, innovation, defence, digitalisation and the green transition. Competitiveness, in this context, is not an abstract EU objective. It is tied to the ability of CEE economies to attract investment, retain financial capacity and move closer to the EU average in productivity, income and market depth.

The discussion will place the Commission’s banking competitiveness report within the broader policy agenda, including the Savings and Investments Union, prudential regulation, proportionality, private capital mobilisation and the role of banks in financing the real economy. It will also ask whether current EU policy debates sufficiently reflect the structure of CEE markets, where banking groups, national authorities, EU institutions and investors often face different constraints than in larger and more mature financial centres.

This CEE Perspective Academy webinar will bring together institutional, banking, investment and regional perspectives to examine what the competitiveness agenda means in practice for Europe’s financial sector. The focus will be on the policy choices now taking shape: how to strengthen Europe’s financial capacity without weakening stability, how to deepen markets without leaving smaller economies behind, and how to ensure that convergence remains part of the competitiveness debate.

About the Experts

Emiliano Tornese

Emiliano Tornese

Head of the Macro-Finance and Macroprudential Policy Unit

European Commission

Emiliano Tornese is Head of the Macro-Finance and Macroprudential Policy Unit in the Commission’s DG FISMA. He is a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe and Part-time Professor at the Florence School of Banking and Finance. Previously, he was Financial and Economic Advisor in the Cabinet of the Italian Prime Minister (Sherpa Office) during the Italian G20 and G7 Presidencies, and Deputy Head of the Financial Markets Infrastructure Unit. As Deputy Head of the Resolution and Crisis Management Unit, he was responsible for negotiations on creating the Banking Union and establishing the Single Resolution Board. He also worked for the Commission’s Securities Markets Unit and, during his tenure, was responsible for establishing the European Securities and Markets Authority and for matters concerning its Corporate Finance Standing Committee. As Secretary of the European Securities Committee, he coordinated the EU Ministries of Finance in their regulatory capacity for financial services.
Sebastian Stodulka

Sebastian Stodulka

Head of the EU Liaison Office

Erste Group Bank AG

Sebastian heads the EU Liaison Office of Erste Group Bank AG, the leading banking group in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Previously, he worked at the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI) and European Savings and Retail Banking Group (ESBG), as Head of Regulatory Affairs. His work has covered banking supervision, resolution, deposit insurance, capital markets, sustainable finance, anti-money laundering, consumer and investor protection, FinTech, affordable housing, financial education and corporate governance. Sebastian is familiar with the European Banking Institute (EBI), European Banking Industry Committee (EBIC) and Financial Data Exchange (FinDatEx), where he served for several years as a Board/Plenary/Alternate Steering Group member. He holds a law degree from Karl-Franzens Universität Graz and a postgraduate LLM in EU law from Europa-Institut Saarbrücken, and also studied in Spain. He is Austrian, a native German speaker and fluent in English, French and Spanish.
Gonzalo Gasós

Gonzalo Gasós

Senior Director of Prudential Policy and Supervision

European Banking Federation

Gonzalo Gasós is Senior Director of Prudential Policy and Supervision at the EBF. He chairs the IBFed Prudential Supervision Group with bank associations from the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Africa, EU, UK, China, Brazil, India, and Korea.He sits on the EBI Advisory Board, the Commission’s NPL Advisory Panel and the EBA Banking Stakeholder Group. His prudential work spans standards, post-crisis reform and the covid-19 policy response, acting between banks and policymakers. He coordinates EBF relations with the ECB SSM on bank supervision and SRB on crisis management and recovery planning. Previously, he supported Santander Group’s international expansion in the International Risk Division and as Basel Project Officer in Santander UK, Germany, Portugal and Italy.He began at Accenture’s Financial Services Division. He has a master’s in Economics and Business Administration from Universidad Autónoma in Madrid, plus postgraduate programmes at IE Business School and IMD in Lausanne.
Christophe Verboomen

Christophe Verboomen

Head of Regulatory Affairs

Invest Europe

Christophe Verboomen is Head of Regulatory Affairs at Invest Europe, the association representing Europe’s private equity, venture capital and infrastructure investment industry. In this role, he supports the organisation’s engagement with EU institutions and regulators on key regulatory and policy developments affecting private capital, including fund regulation, long-term investment, retail participation in capital markets and any initiatives aimed at fostering institutional investment in private capital. He joined Invest Europe in 2014 and has become a leading voice on European regulatory matters impacting the private equity ecosystem. Prior to joining Invest Europe, Christophe, who has a Master from the University of St Andrews, worked at the Belgian Permanent Representation to the European Union and at the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Andreea Lungu

Andreea Lungu

Lead Policy Expert

CEE Perspective

Andreea Lungu is a seasoned policy expert and moderator, currently serving as a representative for PensionsEurope with a focus on the Central and Eastern European (CEE) perspective. Throughout her career, she has been instrumental in shaping pension policy discussions and has been a key contributor to various influential forums and events. Her work has consistently highlighted the importance of sustainable pension systems and their impact on economic stability within the CEE region. Lungu's affiliations and collaborations with prominent organizations have further solidified her reputation as a thought leader in her field.