Ignoring painful lessons from the disastrous response to the 2008-2009 financial crisis has become a habit for northern European countries. Betting against their own futures during the recent European Union finance ministers’ gathering, they rejected the idea of a Eurobond or any other new centralized intervention for the economic catastrophe brought by COVID-19 — something that is likely to further weaken European, U.S. and global economies, now and in the future. 

And the clock is ticking: The last opportunity to act will be April 23, when European leaders convene to approve their ministers’ document. So far, no unity has emerged for badly needed, centralized European fiscal action. 

If radical ideas often are only possible during a crisis, none were considered by the European finance ministers. France is suggesting to raise a “recovery fund” of at least 500 billion euros ($543.6 billion). Italy, Spain and others favor issuing a Eurobond, similar to a Treasury bill, which would carry the implicit guarantee of the entire EU. Yet, Germany and the Netherlands, with Austria, Denmark, Finland and Sweden, have allowed only a rehash of old financing tools already available to member states, like the European Stabilization Mechanism (ESM) or the European Investment Bank (EIB), and a relatively small 100 billion euro fund, called SURE, to fight unemployment. 

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