The European Dream Could Be The Next Coronavirus Victim
As European nations struggle to control the coronavirus pandemic, the crisis has laid bare the continent’s political and economic fault lines.
On March 12, a planeload of masks, respirators, and other medical supplies from China arrived in Italy, a day before the World Health Organization declared that Europe had become the epicenter of the pandemic. Days later, dozens of doctors and nurses from Cuba traveled to Lombardy, Italy’s hardest-hit region.
“Our government sent us here to bring our solidarity here,” said Carlos Perez Diaz, the leader of the Cuban delegation.
There has been little evidence of such solidarity between European nations, however. In early March, when Italy requested face masks and other medical supplies through the European Union’s civil protection mechanism, EU member states responded with silence.
And in the face of an unprecedented economic crisis, with businesses shuttered and millions of people out of work, government officials have been mired in debates over what form any economic relief should take, with rifts forming between southern countries like Italy and Spain, and more fiscally conservative northern countries like Germany. After an all-night meeting, European finance ministers emerged on Wednesday morning with the news that they had failed to reach a consensus.
Such inaction is “a worrying signal from the European Union,” David Cormand, a French politician and member of the European Parliament, told HuffPost France. “It has to demonstrate its usefulness. However, one has the impression that it is too little, too late.”
“Admittedly, Europe has been slow to react,” said Tara Varma, director of the Paris office of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “Now is the time to see what European solidarity is worth — and not just financially. The coming weeks will play a big role in determining the future of the European Union.”
The impact of COVID-19 on Europe has been nothing short of catastrophic....
