European solidarity essential to tackling COVID-19: commission spox

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Already buffeted by the 2008 debt crisis and the tumultuous Brexit process, the European Union faces a new existential threat from the coronavirus – a crisis that has put claims of pan-national solidarity to the test.

Critics have been quick to predict the EU’s demise in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has ravaged economies and health systems across the bloc. Italians in particular, who have suffered especially hard, say Europe turned its back on them.

“We have to re-examine Europe and Italy’s role in it. It has not come to our aid at all,” Italy’s eurosceptic former deputy PM Matteo Salvini tweeted in late March.

“If we do not seize the opportunity to put new life into the European project, the risk of failure is real,” Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told the BBC earlier this month. 

As of Sunday morning, Europe now accounts for more than 100,000 coronavirus deaths – nearly two-thirds of global fatalities, according to an AFP tally. Italy and Spain remain the hardest-hit countries in Europe.

Nathalie Tocci, a former adviser to the EU foreign policy chief, said the crisis is “a make-it-or-break-it moment for the European project”.

Even Jacques Delors, the former European Commission (EC) president, also warned in March that lack of solidarity poses “a mortal danger to the European Union”. 

Stefan De Keersmaecker, the EC spokesperson for health, food safety and transport, insists the crisis has proven the benefits of cooperation and solidarity between nations – helping those less able and more evenly distributing resources where they are needed most.

“We all realize we can only tackle these big challenges if we tackle them head on,” Keersmaecker told Rudaw’s Hemen Abdulla earlier this month.

“That means if we cooperate well, if we do it in full solidarity, and if we make sure there is a good coordinated European response.

“I have to say this is exactly the work that the European Commission is very much striving to do, to make sure that we help the member states in their response to the coronavirus … whether it’s in the area of health, in the area of economic support, in the area of border management, in the area of transport – this is the moment when we have to all work together. The commission can play an important role,” he said.

In a speech in Brussels on April 16, EC President Ursula von der Leyen, set out the coordinated action being taken to combat the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences. 

The EC has created a common stockpile of medical equipment, invested in research for treatments and vaccines, and organised joint procurements for the most urgent supplies on the world market, she said.

A team of experts from across Europe has also been assembled to share the best knowledge to save lives and customs duties have been dropped on the import of medical devices from third countries.

“We will use every available euro we have – in every way we can – to save lives and protect livelihoods of Europeans,” von der Leyen said.

“In this spirit, we proposed to direct all our remaining budget for the year into an emergency instrument. This will allow almost 3 billion euro to go directly to where it needs to go,” she added.

Keersmaecker said new guidelines have been put in place to allow doctors to travel to areas of Europe where they are most needed and patients to find treatment where the resources are most readily available.

“When you have member states where hospitals are overwhelmed, then these hospitals and these member states can send patients to other member states,” he said.

“The guidelines also allow for instance the easier transfer of qualified teams of medical staff from one member state to other member states. These are a few examples of the health care sector where we all try an approach of solidarity and cooperation,” he added.

And what about a vaccine?

“We have mobilized 140 million euros for research projects in the area of the development of a vaccine, in the area of treatment and so on,” Keersmaecker said.

“We have also offered 80 million in financial support to a company who is a global leader in this effort, CureVac.”

Based in Germany, biopharmaceutical company CureVac hopes a vaccine for COVID-19 will be ready by the autumn. , adding that clinical trials should be available “shortly.”

The spokesman acknowledged there will need to be a period of reflection once the worst of the crisis has passed to consider how the response could have been better handled.

“The time will come, I am sure, that we will think about how to tackle these things in the future in a better way and how we can learn lessons from the way we have handled the crisis today,” Keersmaecker said.

“I am sure we will have plenty of time to reflect on this once we have been able to manage this crisis and tackle the economic consequences.”

So now is not the time to feel pessimistic about the future of the European project?

“On the contrary,” Keersmaecker said. “This situation has shown the need for working together, the need for solidarity, the need for cooperation.”

Interview by Hemen Abdulla