The Coronavirus and EU Divisions?

Back in February of this year, Health ministers from the EU 27 held a summit where they discussed the Coronavirus outbreak. German health minister, Jens Spahn, had praised the EU member states’ efforts in containing the virus, but he warned “it could get worse before it gets better." Two months later, Europe sees itself as one of the epicentres of the pandemic as almost 700,000 people in the EU/EEA/UK have contracted the virus while 64,000 people have sadly lost their lives to the virus. The five worst hit countries in Europe (in chronological order) are Spain, Italy, Germany, France and the UK, which all make up around 560,000 of the 700,000 cases. While these countries have high numbers of infection, some were better prepared for the crisis than others. For instance, Spain and Italy (which were among the first EU countries where the virus quickly spread) lacked the ICU units and testing capabilities to save as many lives as they could have. Furthermore, while no longer a member of the EU, the UK’s slow response to the crisis put it on a similar path to Italy and Spain. Meanwhile, Germany was much better prepared for the crisis and successfully implemented a policy of a quick lockdown and wide mass testing, as such the healthcare system over there is not being too overwhelmed and the number of deaths have remained low in comparison to the number of cases who tested positive for the virus. 
 
Ever since the 2009 Eurozone debt crisis, it became clear that not all EU and Eurozone member states were reaping the benefits from the European project. Since then the once quiet Eurosceptic politicians and parties were gaining traction and volume. Now as some countries found themselves embroiled in disaster, the EU could not provide the aid necessary to help them counter the crisis. The Coronavirus pandemic also showed that the EU lacks the coordination it prides itself with, as each individual state seemed to pursue its own policies. While EU finance ministers have only recently agreed to a stimulus plan to help the EU economies worst affected by the pandemic, the crisis once again exposed the divisions within the EU. 
 
COMPLACENCY OVER THE CORONAVIRUS
 
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte faced a major hurdle with regards to the pandemic. For weeks, Italy was the epicentre of the outbreak in Europe, in an attempt to stop the virus from spreading Italy banned flights to and from China in late January. However, this proved to be futile since the freedom of movement within Europe was allowing the virus to spread further. While evidence did show that maintaining freedom of movement was risky due to how quick the virus spreads, during the early weeks of the outbreak the EU maintained that it would not cease free movement within the Schengen area. 

In one article published by Politico, Janez Lenarčič EU’s commissioner for crisis management admitted that the organisation was complacent in the face of the looming pandemic. She also stated that previous experiences, such as the 2003 SARS outbreak and the 2014 Ebola outbreak, were not as severe as this current pandemic. Furthermore, these outbreaks certainly didn’t hit the EU hard, as such many within the EU thought that they would not be as badly affected as Asia. 
 

BICKERING BETWEEN PARTNERS
 
This week finance minister from the EU 27 held a 16 hour video conference trying to agree on a stimulus package. The first round of talks ended in a stalemate as two main opposition blocs emerged during the talks. One bloc was led by Italy and consisted mainly of southern states, which were the worst hit during the crisis. This bloc wanted the EU to share the costs of recovery, and more important loosen conditions for loans. But the other bloc, consisting of Germany, Austria and the Netherlands feared that such measures would lead to weak economic policies within the European south. 
 
This divide has mirrored the Eurozone debt crisis that plagued the EU more than a decade ago, many of the countries that suffered from this crisis such as Greece and Italy have still not fully recovered from it. 

Despite this early setback, some renewed hope seems to be on the horizon, as the EU 27 seemed to have agreed to a compromise. On April 9, the EU announced a 500 billion euro stimulus plan, which would consist of two main mechanisms. First and foremost, 240 billion euros would go to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), these funds would be provided as cheap credit for the worst economically affected countries, which again would be Italy and Spain. Secondly, the European Investment Bank would increase loans to corporations around the EU so that workers’ wages wouldn’t have to be cut. However, there was no mention of the shared EU debt, which would benefit countries like Spain, Italy and France, but was opposed by regional leaders such as Germany. 
 
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
 
While reports have indicated that the number of new cases of Coronavirus has started to fall in Italy and Spain, the crisis is far from over. However, it seems now that the lockdown measures implemented by most EU countries are working for the time being. The great struggle in the near future will be the upcoming recessions that many countries in Europe will face due to this current economic stagnation. If the EU does not come up with a coordinated policy that will aid the countries that have suffered the most, then deeper divisions might form with the organization. Nevertheless, for the time being most EU governments will be focused on decreasing the number of new Coronavirus cases, and preventing a resurge when the time comes for the loosening of lockdown restrictions.