Public debt, so created, was always substantially reduced, or paid off, after most wars for most countries”. 1 Also in Europe, during the sixties and the early seventies, budgets close to balance or even in surplus were regarded as normal. It will not be a surprise that I think that we should go back to normal.
For example, the average of total government gross debt for the present 15 EU Member States in 1970 was 34.6% of GDP. In 1995, this figure had risen to 71.7% of GDP, a doubling in 25 years.