As negotiations on the European Union's future economic recovery plan continue, many references are being made to Europe's "Hamiltonian moment". For the first time, the European Union could supplement its budgetary resources with funds raised on the capital markets to finance grants and loans to countries affected by the crisis. In this text, Jean-Guy Giraud returns to the 1790 agreement between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson on public borrowing, which helped transform the United States into a genuine political federation. The text contains an introductory statement by Alain Lamassoure.
