The Conference on the Future of Europe, planned earlier this year, will probably open in September in a very different context than initially expected. Who will chair it and whether a new treaty for the union will be on the agenda remains unclear, but the need to address repositioning Europe post the Covid-19 pandemic is clear.

Indeed, the EU is suffering from a risk of fragmentation along several lines that could deeply undermine its ability to deal with the challenges to be seen in the next decade. The asset purchase programs (APP) of the European Central Bank, the emergency package via the ESM, and now the European Commission (EC) proposal ‘Next Generation EU’ are powerful tools to address these risks.