Euro Crisis and Corona Crisis Compared

Abstract The starting point of this article is the observation that while in the euro crisis and thus a financial market-driven crisis of the common currency area, the call for Eurobonds was loud but largely unheeded, the pandemic led to a relatively smooth introduction of these bonds. The question is therefore why the pandemic was the window of opportunity for Eurobonds. The two crises are compared, also taking into account that the crises influence each other through their temporal proximity, i.e. that the experiences from the euro crisis also had an impact on later crisis management. It is shown that there are decisive differences in the conflict constellations between the euro crisis and the Corona crisis. In the euro crisis, the conflict line runs clearly and stably between the southern and northern members of the euro zone. In the Corona crisis, the threats are more broadly distributed, the interests are more diffuse and the chances of joint strategies are better.