The euro at the time of covid-19.

Summary The crisis opened by covid-19 in the first half of 2020 makes the institutional fragility of the euro zone more obvious. The principles on which the Maastricht Treaty is based, already undermined by the sovereign debt crisis, are showing their inadequacies. The absence of a common budgetary capacity once again forces the ECB to monetize deficits and calls into question its mandate. Faced with this situation, the article argues for the establishment of a European debt issuance mechanism, assumed and managed by the European Commission. Such an option is preferable to the mutualization of national debts, consolidates European construction and increases the international role of the euro.