George Papaconstantinou is Professor of International Political Economy at the Florence School of Transnational Governance of the European University Institute. His career spans academia, policy, politics and consultancy. He has served government at the highest level as Minister of Finance during the Greek crisis and subsequently Minster of Environment and Energy.

Jean Pisani-Ferry is Professor of Economics at Sciences Po, Paris, a Senior Fellow at Bruegel, the European think tank, and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute in Washington, DC.