The French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with his fellow heads of state on an EU video-conference on Thursday about the coronavirus pandemic and warned that the EU’s core pillars such as free movement could be undone entirely if the individual nation-states do not maintain a unified front during the current crisis.
Mr Macron said, as reported by Reuters, who are citing a diplomat “What’s at stake is the survival of the European project, the risk we are facing is the death of Schengen,” the French President added. At the time of writing the coronavirus has infected 622,000 people worldwide and has killed approximately 29,000. The virus continues to spread at a near exponential rate. To date, it is difficult to argue that the EU has managed to come up with a single approach and its individual member-states have decided to attack the pandemic in a different way.
To slow the spread of the virus, the free movement inside the Schengen Zone has been restricted by many member states. Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain have stated support for the issuance of joint “corona bonds”. This would look to help protect the EU’s economies and create a form of collectivized debt. However, on the flip side of this Austria, Finland, Germany, and the Netherlands have opposed the plan and have been referred to as the ‘frugal four’ by some.
These divides within the EU are likely to not only have an impact on the tackling of the virus, but they could also open up fractions within the EU that will go long beyond this virus. The EU’s two main powers (France and Germany) are split on this issue and this could be catastrophic for the EU long term.
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Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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