1 INTRODUCTION

According to Jean Monnet, one of the founding fathers of the European integration after World War II, Europe always needs a crisis to make progress in integration. The COVID‐19 crisis seems to deliver a perfect case to go forward. The pandemic represents an exogenous shock for all EU member countries. But the impact is asymmetric. Countries with already high public debt before the crisis would run into great difficulties in financing the measures needed to stabilise their economies. Against this background, a number of politicians and academics have called for a “Hamilton moment” and proposed mutualising the new debt at the European level and providing the financial means to the countries most seriously hit by the pandemic.

In 1790, upon a proposal by the Union's finance minister Alexander Hamilton, the debt of states accumulated during the War of Independence was assumed by the Union. Hamilton interpreted this act as “cement” for the Union. Should the EU follow this example and move in the direction of a fiscal union? This article tries to demonstrate that the historical comparison is not well founded, and the establishment of a fiscal union in Europe needs a change of the Treaty on the Union.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19危机：欧盟的汉密尔顿时刻？

1引言

根据第二次世界大战后欧洲一体化的奠基人之一让·莫奈（Jean Monnet）所说，欧洲始终需要危机才能使一体化取得进展。COVID-19危机似乎是前进的完美案例。大流行是所有欧盟成员国的外来冲击。但是影响是不对称的。在危机发生之前已经拥有很高公共债务的国家将在为稳定其经济所需的措施筹集资金方面遇到巨大困难。在这种背景下，许多政界人士和学者呼吁“汉密尔顿时刻”，并建议在欧洲一级使新债务相互抵消，并向遭受大流行严重打击的国家提供财政手段。

根据联邦财政部长亚历山大·汉密尔顿的提议，1790年，独立战争期间积累的国家债务由联邦承担。汉密尔顿将这一行为解释为联盟的“水泥”。欧盟是否应该效仿这个榜样，朝着财政联盟的方向迈进？本文试图证明历史比较的依据不充分，在欧洲建立财政联盟需要修改《联盟条约》。