For too long conservative and liberal-led governments focused on austerity. As we recover from COVID-19, it is time to refocus the EU on meeting the needs of citizens. Only one in four Europeans believe that future generations will have a better life than them. This should send alarm bells ringing. But it is not surprising. After the 2008 economic crash, the liberal approach has been to take selected economic and financial indicators as the benchmark for the general welfare of Member States. This policy neglected the long-lasting social consequences of that crisis: inequality, youth unemployment, degraded workers’ rights, environmental damage, diminished trust in public institutions and more.