Pogo dancing (Andreas Bohnenstengel, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rockabilys_02.jpg)
Pogo in Togo, Corona in Ancona. The anarchic dance through institutions continues. Never waste a crisis! With this in mind, Italy is using the corona pandemic to achieve a sharing of European public debt. European solidarity, instead of domestic Italian solidarity. The Corona crisis has not changed the arguments against sharing debt. Corona bonds result in the lifting of budget restrictions for individual countries, the suspension of fiscal discipline (otherwise enforced by capital markets) and a downgrading of Germany’s credit rating. This time is different is the dangerous narrative: Italy has slid into the crisis through no fault of its own, the instruments would only be used once and, moreover, Germany will benefit if Italy recovers quickly. So it is anyway in Germany’s self interest. Are these arguments correct or is this just a sham discussion to the benefit of Rome and Berlin?