"In response to the pandemic, several proposals have been advanced to mobilise large amounts at the European level, mostly to address the needs of periphery countries. This column argues that because these proposals do not take into account the preoccupations of core countries, the outcome is likely to be general disappointment and recriminations. It offers an alternative proposal, based on the notion that periphery countries are much better equipped to make it on their own than is commonly thought, with a little help from the ECB."

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