Bonding over coronabonds? How the financial question divides Europe
The EU members states have been caught up in a heated discussion on possible European ‘coronabonds’, a joint debt assistance by the Union to help those countries hit by the virus particularly hard. Soon enough, the discussion seemed to produce little of substance and rather to ignite previously existing divides between the member states in regard to a common fiscal policy and mutualisation of debt. In this unprecedent crisis, in which solidarity should be more than ever the Union’s raison d’être, what is the correct course of action? And, should a final solution not be met, what is at stake for Europe? Host Mark Leonard is joined by Guntram Wolff, Director of Bruegel, Jose Ignacio Torreblanca, and Jonathan Hackenbroich to break down the situation and a possible way forward.
This podcast was recorded on 1 April 2020.
Bookshelf:
- “Love in the time of cholera” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- “Radical Uncertainty: Decision-making for an Unknowable Future” by Mervyn King and John Kay
