A Finance Minister Merz would be a systemic risk for the EU

Zeit Online

Europe’s economy will be slow to recover from the pandemic, warns economist Adam Tooze. He calls for new economic stimulus packages and a paradigm shift in Germany. Interview:  Marcus Gatzke und  Johanna Roth

ZEIT ONLINE: Professor Tooze, in an essay published several weeks ago, you wrote that Europe’s economy will suffer from Long Covid. What do you mean by that? 

Adam Tooze: The shutdown measures were successful in containing the second and third wave of the epidemic in Europe below the levels in the United States. But they came at a very high economic price. And so, increasingly, a glaring contrast is emerging between China, which was already recovering strongly at the end of last year, the U.S., which is now on a power surge from the stimulus provided by the Biden administration, and Europe. The latter – though it has put together this super complicated, politically sophisticated Next Generation EU deal – just doesn’t look as though it’s going to get the fiscal policy support you would want.

Read the full interview at Zeit Online.

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