On the eve of the first “in-person” European Council since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Alessandro Leipold, chief economist of the Lisbon Council, calls on European leaders to get the governance mechanism right for the Next Generation European Union recovery plan. In a hard-hitting three-page policy note, Mr Leipold draws lessons from the 12-year-old eurozone crisis and urges European leaders to build the recovery fund on a solid governance structure.