America has a whopping debt. But Europe has the whopping debt problem

The United States has more government debt in absolute and relative terms, but the article argues that Europe faces the more difficult institutional problem. EU debt is distributed across 27 governments, with France standing out for high debt, no recent growth and sharply rising borrowing costs. Elections in several indebted countries could further weaken fiscal discipline. The Economist concludes that France’s budgetary problems are now also limiting the EU’s ability to issue jointly backed debt and build a common safe asset.