Insight
The EU needs to step up its response to the COVID-19 outbreak by Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska and Luigi Scazzieri 23 March 2020
After initially responding slowly and in a haphazard manner, the EU has taken important steps to counter the coronavirus outbreak. But the EU needs to do more if it wants to avoid boosting eurosceptic sentiment. The current crisis offers the EU an opportunity to prove its worth. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Europe has now become the centre of the coronavirus pandemic. Member-states have implemented restrictions to ‘flatten the curve’ of the outbreak and several have gone into ‘lockdown’, banning their citizens from all but the most essential activities. National governments have taken centre stage during the crisis, while the EU’s initial reaction was slow and rather haphazard. This, in turn, has encouraged eurosceptics to argue that the EU is incapable of acting effectively in times of crisis, and that the coronavirus pandemic will undoubtedly lead to its weakening, or even break-up. While it is very unlikely that this will happen, the EU needs to move more decisively in the coming weeks to counter the outbreak and prevent eurosceptics’ predictions coming true. As the outbreak in Italy gathered pace in late February and early March, with the whole country going into lockdown, the EU showed Rome little solidarity. In late February, Italy asked for medical equipment such as masks, asking the Commission to activate the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism, which provides a framework for co-operation between EU member-states and six third countries (Iceland, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia and Turkey) in the field of civil protection, including response to disasters. The Commission activated the mechanism, but no member-state responded positively. Instead, many member-states (including France and Germany) banned the export of medical equipment. Worse still, the statement by European Central Bank (ECB) president Christine Lagarde which said the ECB’s job was not “to close spreads” between member states’ borrowing costs prompted a massive sell-off of Italian sovereign debt, as investors feared the ECB would no longer aim to keep Italian bond yields low by buying bonds. The ECB quickly clarified it would stand behind Italy’s bonds, and announced a €750 billion Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) on March 18th. Many countries have also now removed restrictions on the export of medical equipment to Italy, and Germany has donated some equipment. CER INSIGHT: The EU needs to step up its response to THE COVID-19 outbreak 23 March 2020
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