Stronger together in adversities? Solidarity preferences in Italy and Germany during Covid-19

​Francesco Nicoli ​The Covid-19 pandemic posed a global challenge requiring solidarity among people and between countries at national and international level to combat it effectively. Against this background, we investigate whether German citizens are supportive of solidarity towards Italy, and whether Italians reciprocate the attitude. We investigate these questions by means of an original survey conducted in both countries in autumn/winter 2020, asking whether respondents in the two states would be willing to support each other financially in the event of a global pandemic. We apply benchmark theory, according to which memories of negative events in the recent past shape one's worldviews. Indeed, we find that the perceived lack of solidarity during the Eurocrisis might have undermined the willingness of southern Europeans to reciprocate during the pandemic. Solidarity in democracies seems to be inherently path dependent; hence, the pattern of solidarity initiated with NextGenerationEU (NGEU) has the potential of reshaping the way Italians and Germans think of each other in hard times.V