Europe: The solidarity leap

Europe has changed. In the first three months of managing a crisis unprecedented in its scale and its impact on our health, finance, economy and society, it has chosen to show solidarity in the face of adversity. Against all odds, at a crucial moment in its history Europe has taken a decisive step towards a more generous, autonomous, independent Union, assertive in its strategic interests and its place in the world. The Covid crisis has shaken up, if not our differences - they are an immutable part of our common cultural wealth - at least our conception of living together with shared values. Europe, of course, has been criticised, mocked even. In the early days of the pandemic, borders were closed and our fellow citizens were deprived of their freedom of movement in the hope of protecting them. Supply difficulties arose. The search for masks and ventilators sometimes resembled the law of the jungle. Europhobes rejoiced at the sight of the lack of coordination and the spectacle of disunity. "La brutta Europa", Ugly Europe. On 27 March, this headline from the daily newspaper La Repubblica summed up Italy's dismay. Was the continent going to yield to the temptation of every man for himself, and thus break up, dealing a fatal blow to the spirit of the Treaties and the cohesion of the 27? No, quite the opposite.  

The strength of the internal market

Caught off guard - like China, like the United States - by a pandemic that nobody was able to predict, Europe got itself together strongly and quickly, showing an unexpected capacity for action and speed. In the economic and financial sphere, Member States, the ECB and the Commission took decisive steps to increase liquidity. On health, fully aware of the stakes, Europeans called on the Commission to coordinate Member States’ traditional prerogatives. European companies were mobilised to increase the production of masks and protective equipment - our continent now has the capacity to be self-sufficient. And when Member States drew up about thirty national restrictions on the free movement of personal protective equipment, ventilators, medicines, foodstuffs and raw materials, most of these restrictions were lifted at the Commission's behest. Free trade and the protective role of the internal market prevailed. Another major action was the repatriation - often difficult - of more than 600 000 Europeans stranded abroad. Wherever they were, our fellow Europeans received the full attention and recourse of the Union. 

A major crisis - an unprecedented response

Beyond its duty to rescue the industrial fabric and fight unemployment, the European Union had to imagine a common action that was commensurate with the stakes and guided by three principles: no country should be left behind; no economy should be the isolated victim of the pandemic; all Member States should have access, under comparable conditions, to the debt needed to finance their recovery plans. 27 Member States borrowing together for the internal market, our common good, would have been absolutely inconceivable only three months ago! President Macron's and Chancellor Merkel's initiative changed the course of history, giving impetus to the recovery plan agreed on 21 July in the general interest. The plan could have been even more ambitious in its pan-European vocation. But, in addition to changing the very nature of the Union, it offers the opportunity to build a more competitive, more sustainable, more resilient and more inclusive Europe at the service of our fellow citizens. We must seize this opportunity without delay. 

Building tomorrow

Alas, Covid-19 is still with us. To face our common threats, the crisis calls all the more for a European management and reaction capacity endowed with the necessary means and authority. Such a system, in a state of emergency, would make it possible to initiate rapid cooperation and coordinated decisions between countries. We urgently need to set up strategic stocks. We could also ensure better interoperability of our healthcare systems by interconnecting hospitals, or even by using health data - under strict conditions - on a European scale. These are all strategic projects. 

In 100 days, Europe has changed more than in thirty years. But its fragilities, its geographical, economic and social imbalances remain. However spectacular the leap forward may be, it cannot be short-lived. We now need to build our continent’s economic and geopolitical sovereignty. We will come back to this.