For years, the European fiscal landscape was characterised by a reliable, if tense, dichotomy: a frugal core led by Germany providing the ‘fiscal space’ that anchored the euro area, and a periphery of high(er)-debt countries stretching the limits of EU fiscal rules. This column describes how that geography is shifting. Since 2025, countries with debt below 90% of GDP, above all Germany, decided to add fiscal stimulus while high(er)-debt countries, pressed by increasingly evident constraints, showed relative self-control. This shift has important implications going forward. […]