Headlines: European Central Bank refuses to cancel coronavirus debt

Audio 05:18

The headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB), in Frankfurt, Germany.

© Daniel Roland / AFP

By: Norbert Navarro

10 mins

Publicity

It is the President of the ECB who hammers out her very monetarist

credo

in the

Journal du Dimanche

.

The cancellation of the Covid-19 debt is “unthinkable”, declares Christine Lagarde, it would be “

 a violation 

” of one of the “ 

fundamental pillars

 ” of the euro, the single currency of the European Union. 

But then, this Covid-19 debt, how to repay it?

With growth, slice the central bank of the euro, announcing, from the "

 middle of the year

 " a level of growth "

 around 4%

",

she predicts in

the

JDD

.

According to Christine Lagarde, this recovery will " 

create jobs

 " and will tend towards " 

another economy

 ", driven by " 

new values, which young people are already expressing

(and)

which will obey different parameters 

".

Without specifying which ones ...

The economic sacrifices of this health crisis

Being reminded that to this end, the day before yesterday, more than a hundred economists called for the cancellation of public debts held by the ECB - to which, as we have just seen, Christine Lagarde said " 

no 

,

we will point out here the solution proposed by Emmanuel Todd in Marianne

.

Well known for having theorized the famous " 

social divide

 ", this demographer first sums up the " 

insoluble moral dilemma 

" which society is facing because of the coronavirus.

On the one hand, to stop protecting the

(old) would

be a criminal position - and therefore unacceptable.

On the other hand, continuing to sacrifice the young generations, isolated, facing insecurity, broken even before they entered working life, is just as criminal, 

”he told this weekly.

So, to resolve this dilemma, Emmanuel Todd is proposing what he calls a “

generational deal

 ”, in other words a “ 

negotiation 

” between generations and which “ 

integrates the future

 ”.

What “ 

negotiation 

” suggested by Emmanuel Todd?

:

Today, underlines Emmanuel Todd, young people " 

take responsibility for the protection of the old, they make a sacrifice, one more, heroic at bottom.

But they agree to it.

In

"exchange", he proposes,

that the old people who are in power, by their electoral weight as by their possession of capital, finally commit to preparing for them a livable world.

An economic and social revolution will have to follow the health crisis

, enjoins the demographer in

Marianne

.

The debt contracted to young people will have to be paid.

We will have to repay their sacrifice, free them for the long term

 ”.

How? 'Or' What ?

By recreating “ 

sectors protected by the State

 ”, by investing “

 massively 

” in research on the basis of “ 

recovered monetary sovereignty, in other words without the euro 

”!

And he warns, " 

if such a

generational

" deal "

, morally just and economically efficient, is not achieved, what we have in front of us is a historical and anthropological catastrophe which will swallow up, without sorting out, young and old 

"!

Wonderful perspective painted by this famous demographer in

Marianne

.

What to do with an incest victim who does not wish to reveal what she has suffered?

Question asked by

La Croix L'Hebdo

.

Respect for the victim's desire for secrecy, on the one hand;

need to speak even if the victim continues to oppose it, on the other ...

Already, for minors, the answer " 

must not arise

 " since, recalls this weekly, it is in the penal code.

Which then imposes "

 an obligation to report to anyone having knowledge

 " of the facts.

Moreover,

La Croix L'Hebdo completes

, “ 

beyond the law, reporting is also an imperative to protect the child and not make him or her bear the responsibility of reporting or not

 ”.

It is therefore "when 

faced with a victim who, having become an adult, wishes to maintain secrecy

 " that the question arises, given, for example, the need, sometimes, to " 

protect other younger victims 

".

In this magazine, a psychiatrist and a psychologist warn against the risk of reproducing the " 

system of control

 " that the victim of incest has undergone from his attacker when the latter told him to " 

do this or that

 " .

Another risk is that of plunging the victim of incest back into the situation of "

 passivity which was his during the abuse

 ".

This is why we must " 

not act in his place

," explains

La Croix L'Hebdo

.

It's up to the person to take back control of their life and know what they want to do with it

 ."

It is therefore more appropriate to "

 encourage him, support him in this process of lifting the secre

t", merely advising this magazine.

Secrets and lies, an infernal dilemma, indeed ...

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

  • Newspaper

  • France