And do so together: the German Federal President warned last month, “Germany cannot emerge from the crisis strong and healthy if [its] neighbours do not also become strong and healthy” i. Of course the same applies to, say, the Netherlands or Austria: selfishness today could come at a high price tomorrow. And let me stress the utmost importance of Chancellor Merkel’s words precisely just yesterday: “This will encourage us to do more in the area of economic policy, in order to further integration of the euro area. We will address this issue in connection with what we call the Recovery Fund for Europe”. A. Our common goals: recovery and repair 1/Supporting growth in the recovery phase is a shared objective for all of us in Europe. There is indeed no magic bullet, and – at the end of the day – the debt inherited from the crisis will need to be financed through growth and through our work. As pointed out by my colleague and friend Governor Ignazio Visco, “adequate investment in education is […] needed to face the uncertainty that surrounds the jobs and the skills that will matter in the future” ii. Yet, in the face of such enormous upheaval such as the Covid-crisis, investment at the national level will inevitably reach its limit.
Facing the deep European Investment and growth gap, we need to implement major European investment programmes to bridge that gap while tackling common structural priorities such as the fight against climate change which must absolutely not become a collateral victim of the crisis, or digitalisation which will be even more than before the key driver of future productivity. 2/ Preserving the single market while “repairing” firms is our second common goal in the recovery phase. National governments did well in the acute phase, by taking emergency measures such as providing guarantees and liquidity support to their SMEs. But, as these measures will have to be prolonged and transformed into long-term solvency measures, national differences could create an “unlevel playing field“. A single market – which is in the interest of all Member States, starting with Germany – means common rules for corporates:  Page 7 sur 10 if not, our economies risk further divergence and that would be very unfortunate. The solvency of European business is our shared challenge, and calls for shared solutions. Focusing on these two objectives is more important than arguing about public debt. But let me, for the sake of consistency, propose two basic principles: Existing debts are and will remain the responsibility of national governments. Let us stop this fruitless debate about Eurobonds and the mutualisation of past debt. Fiscal consolidation will remain a national obligation – including in France –, but with appropriate timing in order to avoid the premature and procyclical tightening of public finances.