EU countries do not agree on a common plan to save the economy

Although Western Europe is now considered the region most affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, even here different countries and their regions have been affected to varying degrees. So far, the countries of southern Europe — Italy and Spain — whose economies were not the most successful in the European Union (EU) before, are considered the most affected. However, now the more northern countries - France, Italy, Great Britain, are seriously affected by the virus. At the same time, the most problematic part of the EU - Eastern Europe and the successful Scandinavian countries - so far manage to avoid the catastrophic number of sick and dead.

In such circumstances, it is difficult to agree on a unified strategy in the fight against COVID-19. “After 16 hours of discussions, we came close to an agreement, but have not yet reached it. I suspended the Eurogroup until Thursday,” wrote Mari Centenu on my Twitter. “My goal remains the same - to create a reliable airbag for the EU to protect workers, enterprises and countries, and developing a significant economic recovery plan. "

Earlier, it was assumed that the finance ministers of the EU countries will agree on a program of 500 billion euros to mitigate the economic consequences of the pandemic, says vesti.ru. The main reason for the failure of the negotiations was the disagreement between Italy and the Netherlands on the conditions under which it is necessary to provide loans to eurozone countries to combat the pandemic. Moreover, the eurozone economy over the past month experienced a record decline in business activity, as the authorities in the region had to close a number of enterprises in order to curb the spread of the virus. In the meantime, the EU governing bodies have only allowed Member States to increase their debt in order to increase costs.

At the beginning of March, many publicists noted that the crisis around the coronavirus was a very serious test for the very idea of the EU.

“Remember, there was such a Brexit, and from every iron they blew ears, they say, now Britons will cry without the European Union. A bread roll will crawl back to ask when it will close. That the European Union is such a force and power, kind father and caring mother, without which the citizens will have heaven a sheepskin, ” wrote Alexander Sokolov , who lives in Slovakia .“ For the third week, Italy gasped for breath from a coronavirus, the possibilities of the national health system have long been exhausted. Already everyone who could and has a brain noted that Europe, given the freedom of manners and intensive movements of Azhdan, will cover abruptly China.

And what do we hear and see from the crowd of highly paid Brussels bureaucrats? NOTHING! Those. nothing at all. National states are busy with the problem, each to the extent of its understanding and capabilities.

Neither pan-European coordination, nor pan-European programs, nor even any Brussels directive. As if they weren’t there at all - all on vacation.

Maybe you’ve heard of a humanitarian mission that accumulates the European capacities of medicine - the same ventilators, mobile hospitals, recruits doctors and volunteers ... everything that can be quickly abandoned-deployed in the places where it happened (like in Italy) or - will a new flash happen? Mb - About planning and attracting international police forces to organize quarantine zones in critical regions? Or about a single European plan for the crisis organization of passenger transportation, taking into account the needs of citizens, the capabilities of carriers and quarantine needs? I have not heard either.

Well, damn it, you need to work - to make decisions promptly and meaningfully, to allocate funds without kickbacks. These are not multimillion-dollar and long-term “studies” of the problem of optimizing the shape of cucumbers, transgender aspects of multicultural adaptation and the prospects for quoting sanctions in favor of green energy. ”

Martin Mühleisen, director of the strategy, policy and analysis department of the International Monetary Fund , however, is more optimistic about the problem . According to him, a long period of global economic growth and a high level of employment in recent years will nevertheless create a certain backlog against very weak economic activity during the current dramatic months.