The problem of state debts is one of acute topicality. States tend to borrow in order to be able to finance large investment projects, to subsidize certain branches of activity or to be able to deal with certain moments of economic crisis. All the states of the world are in debt and in economic history there is only one case in which a state managed to pay its foreign debt in full, namely Romania in 1989. Even though many states manage in certain periods to repay part of their loans and reduce the total debt, however, for long periods of time, the global trend is to increase the debts of the states. Exceeding a certain threshold, the loans whose initial purpose was to boost economic activity end up being a burden that weighs on the economy. The appearance of the SARS COV 2 virus and its rapid worldwide spread triggered a medical crisis followed by an economic crisis in all the states of the world, including European countries. In order to be able to face the medical crisis, to be able to support the companies but also the disadvantaged social categories affected, the governments had to borrow money to face the growing expenses. The paper aims to study how public debt and external debt have evolved in the countries of the European Union in the years following the outbreak of the pandemic.