Thread by @jfkirkegaard

Countries ability to wage wars and raise debt are linked through history - US Liberty Bonds or UK War Bonds sold to retail investors during WW1 etc. showed that patriotism = powerful investment advice. But what about for funding #UkraineWar? Should the EU get in too? a proposal🧵

2) EU debt is invariably controversial, and probably some would consider the suggestion to market it directly to Europeans to fund fighting a common threat (Russian aggression in Ukraine) would set a "dangerous precedent". But why not? @gmfus we are looking into this, too.

3) #Canada recently did so, to offer Canadians an opportunity to directly support Ukraine through the "Ukraine Sovereignty Bond", partnering with Canadian financial institutions to offer such a bond to indivial investors in denominations of C$100 canada.ca/en/department-…

4) The Ukraine Sovereignty Bond is fully backed by Canada's AAA rating and upon maturity in 5y will be redeemed alongside Canada's regular government bonds. It nonetheless offers a direct channel for individual Canadians to express their direct personal financial support for 🇺🇦

5) @EU_Commission today issues bonds on behalf of the EU for its different funding needs - #NGEU, SURE, MFA etc., incl. in the form of private placements. Could the @EU_Commission for instance negotiate a "private placement type deal" with EU banks/institutional investors to

6) be remarketed/resold to individual Europeans in the the form of small say EUR100 denominations? It would be an opportunity for the EU to directly engage with the European public on an important subject of common European importance and enjoying widespread public support.

7) An "EU Ukraine Sovereignty Bond", backed like regular @EU_Commission debt, but targeged towards retail investors, would be an invariably "political act" and help normalize the issuance of EU-level debt to solve common problems in the eyes of European publics.

8) There is AFAIK no obvious legal restriction (... but I am not a lawyer, so mauybe wrong :-) ) for the @EU_Commission top enter into this kind of contract with private financial institutions to literally take the EU's support for Ukraine directly to the EU publics.

9) Why not test individual Europeans' willingness to support Ukraine financially with an "EU Ukraine Sovereignty Bond" issued via private EU financial institutions? What say you @vonderleyen @JHahnEU @GertJanEU - time to test Europeans' willingness to fund EU's Ukraine support?

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