German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reportedly said on the margins of the European Political Community summit in Prague that he is examining a European common debt bond issuance to tackle the energy crisis on an EU-wide level.
Such a development would be indeed be quite impressive.
Berlin will not only have abandoned its steadfast and absolute rejection of European common debt bonds, but it will have proven in the most palpable manner that it means what it says regarding European solidarity.
Bloomberg’s related report was denied by a source in the German chancellery.
Yet, many in the EU hope that it may have a kernel of truth.
Other EU member-states believe that the Union’s leading economic power could in this way temper the negative impressions stirred by Berlin’s decision to offer a 200bn euro energy crisis relief package at home.
They have accused Germany of ignoring the manner in which the common market works.
The obstacles that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz must transcend are by no means small.
The German finance minister and ruling coalition partner has opposed common borrowing.
Moreover, Germany’s Constitutional Court has not yet delivered its ruling regarding the constitutionality of the EU Pandemic Recovery Fund.
In the event that the expectations of those who want Scholz to give the green light pan out, Germany will have demonstrated that it has truly understood that great crises demand that one transcend longstanding and firmly held positions.
Moreover, Berlin will have persuaded even the most reserved that it means its oaths of allegiance to a common European future.
