Sacred Euro: Sovereign Debt(s) and EU's Bare Credit in the Corona Crisis

Abstract

This is a contribution that will appear in the forthcoming book "In the Realm of Corona Normativities", edited by Prof. Werner Gephart, Käte Hamburger Center.

The paper advances an interpretation of the EU political impasse about how to deal with the COVID-19 emergency by shifting Agamben's paradigm of the 'homo sacer' to the 'sacertas' of the Euro. In this frame, after describing the Euro as a currency (nomisma) lacking in an appropriate nomos to give member states (economic) credit backed by EU (political) credit, it looks at the EU Recovery Plan, on which the EU member states have just agreed, as a historic moment for the future of Europe.

The final proofreading of this paper occurred in the precise days (17-19 July 2020) in which the EU summit in charge of negotiating/approving the recovery plan proposed by the EU Commission was taking place. I trust that the reader will find in the text good points to make his/her own evaluation about the summit development and final outcomes.

Keywords: Eurozone; EU summit; EU Recovery Plan; COVID-19 crisis; Agamben; homo sacer; European Union; monetary economics

JEL Classification: E00; E40; E50