NOTE: While I am aware of the megathread the purpose here is for a more political discussion on the EU and it's ( horrible ) response.
The response in the European Union in dealing with the coronavirus has been nothing short of a complete and utter disaster of unprecedented scale. While countries like Italy did move swiftly and decisively to deal with the virus, imposing a travel ban at the end of January to travelers from China at about the same time as the United States, though notably without requiring a self-quarantine to all travelers that had gone to China like the US did ( at least I haven't anything to indicate that Italy did that ), other countries in the European Union did not move so quickly. The result is that Europe is at the center of the worldwide pandemic and if the actions taken in 2008 are any indication this is only the beginning of a very rough period for Europe.
The Center for American Progress has the following to say: https://www.americanprogress.org/iss...dest-test-yet/
The EU already has a lot on its plate and is stressed from struggling to deal with the fallout from Brexit, combat climate change, settle internal divisions, and counter influence efforts from China and Russia. The coronavirus crisis is highlighting and exacerbating the serious gaps in the current EU structure. Understandably, EU member states are turning inward, focusing on themselves and their citizens instead of working through the EU to contain the outbreak. It couldn’t be clearer that Brussels lacks the tools and political will to effectively aid member states that are in dire need of help or act as a driving force in coordinating the global response. This is a test that the EU, as presently designed, is doomed to fail.
The coronavirus is hammering Italy, overwhelming its hospitals, causing thousands of deaths, and suspending economic activity. But this isn’t just bad for Italy. Italy is Europe’s fourth-largest economy and, crucially, a member of the eurozone. As the crisis has hit, bond spreads between Italy and Germany have grown, meaning that the interest rates for Italian banks to borrow are far higher than they are for German banks. The problem is that the two countries use the same currency—meaning that, in a crisis, Italy could see its borrowing rates soar as lenders search for safe harbors.
This pandemic is similar to the 2008 recession in scope and severity. A repeat of the drawn-out Greek debt crisis would be disastrous for all of the EU. Italy’s GDP is nearly 10 times bigger than Greece’s. Its economic collapse would threaten the survivability of the euro, as the cost for a bailout would be astronomical. The ramifications of such a collapse would be devastating for the entire EU and the global economy.The last boded part is what's critical. We're talking of a global pandemic that in terms of the damage it will do could be just as bad as the 1918 Spanish Flu and the Great Depression if we don't keep it under control. We can control it. We have money, resources and knowledge to do so. We have the ability and organization available...but we'll likely screw it up just as Europe badly handled the 2008 crisis.While Europe created a common monetary policy, it never created a common fiscal policy. When there is a recession in the United States, the federal government tends to intervene, injecting a stimulus in the form of spending and tax cuts to keep the national economy moving. The EU doesn’t do this, and, during the 2008 economic crisis, this lack of a common fiscal policy was exposed.
In 2008, the EU was put to the test and barely averted catastrophe. At the direction of Germany, one of its most powerful member states, the EU forced Greece to undertake draconian cuts in order to receive the funds necessary to prevent Greek banks from collapsing. Ultimately, much of that funding went straight into the coffers of international lenders, many of them German lenders such as Deutsche Bank.
Germany and other eurozone members sought to make an example of Greece in order to show other eurozone countries that profligacy would be punished. The results were predictable: Greece experienced an economic downturn on par with the Great Depression in the United States and has only recently begun to recover. What could have been a manageable crisis spiraled and spread to the rest of Europe. Spain, which had an economic surplus before the crisis, was plunged into a deep recession—as was most of southern Europe. Instead of seeking to stimulate the European economy, the EU didn’t step in, causing the spreads in bond rates between EU members to deepen and further prolonging the recession.
Ultimately, the European Central Bank (ECB) stepped in and replicated the response taken by the U.S. Federal Reserve. This stemmed the crisis, and Europe began to return to growth. However, Europe hasn’t learned from the crisis of 2008.
While German Chancellor Angela Merkel is rightly praised in the United States for her moral leadership and the dignity she showed during the 2015 migration crisis, her conservative economic approach has been detrimental to Europe’s growth. Merkel’s outlook is rooted in highly conservative German economic thinking, and Germany’s clout within the EU has meant that austerity has reigned in the EU since the 2008 crash. Moreover, German reticence has put the breaks on efforts to bolster the EU’s fiscal and economic firefighting tools. Merkel has rejected French President Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to reform the EU. Therefore, the EU is approaching this crisis with a similar set of limited tools that it had in 2008.
Because at the end of the day Merkel and the Germans have no damned interest in spending the trillions, yes trillions of euros to deal with the crisis. In the United States everyone from Pelosi to Trump to McConnell to Schumer are talking about a 1 trillion+ stimulus package that's likely going to get passed over the next week, and you can be certain that it's just start and more packages will be needed, while in Europe everyone seems to be out for themselves. Macron has good intentions and ideas, but France doesn't have the capability and power to tackle this issue without the help of Germany...and Germany doesn't care.
A final point: Boris Johnson very publicly threw his support behind the idea of herd immunity, as in get 70%+ of the population infected to deal with the virus. Which given the 2% death rate is a surefire way to get a lot of people killed, he backed away from that as the Imperial College told him he'd have 250.000 dead britons on his hands but just a few days ago Mark Rutte, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands embraced a similar plan...while Angela Merkel made a statement saying we can expect 60-70% of Germans to get infected.
The insanity of this plan is that beyond getting a lot of people killed even in the best case scenario is we have no notion of what his virus can do long-term. We have no real treatment, no vaccine and no understanding of the effects on the people that are infected and recovered, so why make such statements only a few days ago? I personally believe because our great leaders don't want to accept just how painful dealing with this will be.
We're talking 1-2 years to get a vaccine and/or treatment. We're talking of an economic crisis that will only get worse and worse over the next few months and the people in charge aren't interested in solving the issue. With the Internal and External Borders the EU closed the union has taken a hammering.
Some countries, especially those like Italy, Spain, Greece, Croatia etc. that depend significantly on tourism are going to be hammered, while others will escape with significantly less damage. If there was any kind of measure of European solidarity the countries better off would help those that will struggle.
I don't expect that and I've seen the leaders of Europe do far more harm to the Union in the last three months then nationalist leaders managed to do in well over a decade.