A shield for 'Europeanness'? The European bonds debate in the (post-) pandemic era

This paper addresses a fundamental question: how can we explain that common debt issuance -a solution rejected since the Maastricht Treaty- was embraced during the pandemic, and has now been considered several times in the post-pandemic period? From a theoretical perspective, the paper adapts Dyson’s conceptualisation of public debt to the (post-)pandemic reality of the European Union. It introduces the notion of an ontological model of debt, highlighting the emergence of an identity-driven perception of joint debt linked to the political will to preserve the ‘European way of life’ during times of crisis. Empirically, it relies on an illustrative analysis of press articles to trace the emergence of this ontological vision of public debt at the EU level during the pandemic (2020-2021) and the post-pandemic period (2022-2024). Analytically, the paper demonstrates that common debt is a polysemous concept, strategically mobilised during negotiations. While hierarchical and transactional views of joint debt continue to compete with a more socially oriented perception of EU borrowing, the Recovery Plan has paved the way for an identity-based perspective on common debt. This research contributes to a renewed focus on common debt and the politics of European bonds.