A few Sunday morning thoughts on the impact of #COVID19 on our freedoms - a hotly debated issue in Sweden and in France (and elsewhere). Let's unpack. 1/13

1. Freedom of circulation and freedom of assembly. These are obviously incompatible with fighting the spread of the virus and are curtailed everywhere to various degrees. 2/13

Interestingly, how much they are curtailed has little to do with the nature of the political system. Some unquestionable democracies have stricter lockdowns that many authoritarian regimes. 3/13

Other factors are at play : availability of healthcare resources, ability to take and enforce measures, historical experience with pandemics or other catastrophic events, perception of the elderly in society... 4/13

Anyway, just a few weeks of restrictions have already built up a tremendous aspiration to get these freedoms back. They may well emerge stronger from this crisis. The way we are using digital tools to assemble online and "make society" is telling, and heartening. 5/13

2. Economic freedoms. Those are not suppressed but reduced by the crisis. Full return to normal will not be automatic. It will require restoring/adjusting some rules and, more importantly, massive financial measures. No economic freedoms if there is no economy. 6/13

3. Political freedoms. Very mixed picture here. There is a temporary, systemic impact through physical limitations to assembly or voting. But otherwise two opposite trends. 7/13

- authoritarians use the crisis as an opportunity to grab more power. That was maybe the most predictable of all consequences, and they never disappoint.

- But I would argue that this is not a bad time for democracy, either. We see it at play as rarely before. 8/13

- Leaders take difficult decisions based on incomplete data and explain them. Experts provide knowledge. Civil servants draft policy. Parliaments ensure accountability. Journalists exercise scrutiny. And the people are evaluating, as well as contributing to, the response. 9/13

All of this more or less effective or messy, depending on the context. But that's for everyone to decide, and for once everyone is interested in assessing policies and comparing results. That's good news, as the biggest threat to democracy is always indifference. 10/13

4. Same mixed picture regarding freedom of information : getting worse where it was already bad, but arguably getting better elsewhere. A lot of disinformation going around, but also newfound interest for genuine information + and a lot of outstanding journalistic work. 11/13

In a nutshell, no massive and irreversible trend in this crisis toward authoritarianism or populism. Even some indications to the contrary. 12/13

BUT that risk definitely exists for the day after, if we mismanage the recovery and strip millions of our citizens of their future. That's the real test for European solidarity. We have momentous decisions ahead of us. 13/13