“World markets are increasingly wary of the U.S. dollar. They’re looking at alternatives. Let’s offer them European debt,” Macron said, adding that Europe’s democratic institutions were a major asset for investors at a time when the U.S. was “drifting away from the rule of law.”

The E.U. used joint debt in 2020 to re-boot the European economy after the COVID-19 pandemic, but French attempts to make such tools permanent have faced stiff resistance from Germany and other more frugal northern member states.