OREANDA-NEWS. November 26, 2012. The discussion “New Economy in Europe: Between a Rock and a Hard Place” was held today as part of the Sberbank Day Conference in Frankfurt, reported the press-centre of Sberbank.

The discussion was moderated by Herman Gref, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank. Participants in the discussion were Gerhard Schroder, Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005; Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic; Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary; Ivica Dacic, Prime Minister of Serbia; Milorad Dodik, President of the Republika Srpska; and Zlatko Lagumdzija, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ministers of Finance for Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Croatia and Austria were among the guests of the conference.

The panellists analysed the impact of pre-crisis economic models on the region’s development, discussed the current situation in the Eurozone, its impact on Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European countries, solutions to the Eurozone crisis, and exchanged views on the region’s future development.

Herman Gref commented: “We see great long-term growth potential in the region, despite ongoing troubles. The main two forces driving this are the quality of human capital in the region and the high quality of institutions. However, nevertheless it’s necessary to continue implementing structural reforms and improving the government mechanisms, taking into account new challenges”.