Gentiloni credits the joint borrowing — initially aimed at rescuing economies that were severely hit by the economic recession caused by Covid-19 — with boosting growth in Southern European members such as Spain, Portugal and Greece.

“In hindsight, it would have been good if we had kept part of the €800 billion for common [European as opposed to national] projects too,” he said, while acknowledging — in a nod to former Italian PM Mario Draghi’s landmark competitiveness report, unveiled Sept. 9 — that projects of “European scale” could soon justify further common debt.

As outlined in Draghi’s 400-page report, the bloc’s industrial competitiveness rests on being able to catalyze private and public investment for industrial and high-tech projects, some of that ideally by issuing common debt — a historically contentious issue for many member states.

Whatever the flavor of financing, Gentiloni’s view on the report was that it should still be treated selectively. “We need to take the Draghi report à la carte, choosing the most important, urgent and feasible things,” Gentiloni said.

That doesn’t mean avoiding politically thorny questions such as joint debt, however.

According to the 69-year-old, common debt is inevitable if the goals of Draghi’s report, which ranges from producing clean energy to boosting the EU’s defense industry, are to be achieved.