The trauma of the 2010-2014 period in the euro zone

Today’s economic policies in the euro zone are largely the result of the trauma created by understanding the economic policy mistakes made from 2010 to 2014. These are: Waiting until 2015 to implement quantitative easing, which kept interest rates high and, above all, allowed peripheral countries' yield spreads to widen, leading to the debt crisis in these countries; Having conducted a restrictive fiscal policy from 2011 at a time when the economy had just recovered, which plunged the euro zone back into recession; Having managed the Greek crisis without solidarity, but by demanding that Greece implement an extremely restrictive fiscal policy, which has greatly impoverished Greece. In response to these mistakes and the trauma they caused, it is not surprising that today: Monetary policy remains persistently expansionary and keeps yield spreads between countries under control; Fiscal policy normalisation is taking place extremely slowly; Solidarity between countries has been implemented by the Next Generation EU programme.