Joachim Bitterlich, former foreign and security policy advisor to Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

As a former political advisor to Helmut Kohl during the negotiations of the Maastricht Treaty, Joachim Bitterlich was an eyewitness and a key diplomatic player at a crucial time in European integration history.

On 27 september, Bitterlich will open the conference Euro at 20: shifting paradigms? He will share his reflections on the creation of the EMU, the crucial role of Germany and the Maastricht criteria then and now.

Thomas Piketty, French economist and professor at HESS and Paris School of Economics

On 28 September we will welcome Piketty online in Maastricht for a keynote lecture on the many dimensions of inequality problems in Europe, the challenge of building a social Europe and the economic model that, for the past three decades, has increased the accumulation of wealth at the top percentile of European societies.

Paul de Grauwe, Belgian economist and John Paulson Professor in European Political Economy at the London School of Economics and Political Science as head of the European Institute

On 29 September, Professor Paul de Grauwe will deliver a keynote lecture in Maastricht  on the challenges for the European Monetary Union.