This autumn, the European Commission will set out the future direction for the EU’s trade policy. In this column its Chief Trade Economist calls on Vox contributors to engage in the debate about what that direction should be.

The impact of the current financial crisis on EU members has introduced a sense of urgency to the coordination/centralization of financial supervision debate. This CEPR Policy Insight on the micro-prudential supervisory framework.

The financial crisis introduced a sense of urgency to the debate on the desirable structure of financial supervision in the EU. This column, which accompanies a new CEPR Policy Insight, provides two policy recommendations. First, policymakers could consider the harmonisation of supervisors´ governance arrangements. Second, consideration should be given to the introduction of a European mandate for national supervisors in order to better align incentives in the EU supervisory framework for micro-prudential supervision.