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Hey @UnDiplomaticPod @WonkVJ, I was listening to your episode released on 8 April and I need to point something out.
There is an EU response to the pandemic - one that comprises an EU-level coordination, plus individual responses of its member-states: https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/health/coronavirus-response/overview-commissions-response_en
There is an EU response to the pandemic - one that comprises an EU-level coordination, plus individual responses of its member-states: https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/health/coronavirus-response/overview-commissions-response_en
Health isn't an exclusive EU competence but Brussels can coordinate & support response efforts (as it's doing under #rescEU, ran by @eu_echo; it had a troubled start) as well as use the EU's tools to improve access to medical goods, support research etc: https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/health/coronavirus-response/overview-commissions-response_en
It got off to a rocky start: early responses were rather clumsy and there were even examples of countries like France, Germany and the Czech Republic that temporarily banned the exports of PPE. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-eu/eu-fails-to-persuade-france-germany-to-lift-coronavirus-health-gear-controls-idUSKBN20T166
Today the response is more coordinated between EU member states & the European Commission, and mutual assistance has started to gain ground over restrictive actions: https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/health/coronavirus-response/coronavirus-european-solidarity-action_en
By late March the answer was still far from ideal, tho: efforts had kickstarted but there was still a lot to do, as @bruxelles2 (hardly an anti-EU voice) pointed out, namely on the amount of PPE sent to other EU states and repatriation of citizens abroad: https://www.bruxelles2.eu/2020/03/que-fait-leurope-aujourdhui-exactement/
Examples where China is perceived to be helping the most afflicted countries while the EU has stood by made headlines but there's a lot more to it: in the case of Serbia, EU assistance has simply been ignored by the head of state.
https://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_serbias_coronavirus_diplomacy_unmasked
http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/coronavirus_support_wb.pdf
https://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_serbias_coronavirus_diplomacy_unmasked
http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/coronavirus_support_wb.pdf
Not to mention the instances where Chinese exports were presented as emergency aid.
Then there was the example of Chinese medical goods that were faulty or did no meet the standards (this includes Russia's own goods sent to Italy): https://fortune.com/2020/04/01/europe-china-coronavirus-testing-help-regret/
Then there was the example of Chinese medical goods that were faulty or did no meet the standards (this includes Russia's own goods sent to Italy): https://fortune.com/2020/04/01/europe-china-coronavirus-testing-help-regret/
In fact, earlier on, when the health crisis was mostly limited to China, the EU sent assistance to help the Chinese authorities: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_20_307
Of course, when the EU sent aid to China the CCP didn't want this to be publicized: https://twitter.com/isabelleory/status/1242547172366827524?s=20
Of course, when the EU sent aid to China the CCP didn't want this to be publicized: https://twitter.com/isabelleory/status/1242547172366827524?s=20
Overall the response has improved and it's now much better than 7 weeks ago. @UnDiplomaticPod is not a podcast dedicated to EU affairs and doesn't intend to discuss the EU in great detail but something is being done here, both at a coordination level & at a member states' level.
As for the economic response, there's the @ecb programme ( https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/blog/date/2020/html/ecb.blog200319~11f421e25e.en.html), the @EIB's guarantee fund ( http://eib.org/en/about/initiatives/covid-19-response/index.htm) and then there were the Eurogroup meetings on €€€ assistance, where things got ugly. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/10/eu-members-clash-coronavirus-pandemic-economic-rescue
The Eurogroup is formed by the finance ministers of the 19 €uro-area countries. They had heated talks on how to address economic fallout - mostly, about whether the response should come with strict conditions (à la 2010-11 and under @ESM_Press) or assume a more mutualized form.
This gets confusing when watching from the outside but the EU is not a 'classic' international organization - it has powers of its own; then it has shared powers with its members; there are configurations where only *some* of its members take part, like the eurogroup; etc.
This is getting very lengthy here but my main comment on @UnDiplomaticPod's last episode is directed at the mention that the EU has done virtually nothing, close to saying that it has no purpose - there are tools in place, it took some wrangling but there is a response.
The EU is often accused of being too powerful AND of not being powerful enough - like I mentioned, it's not a classic organization but it's not an entirely supranational body either. Responses require compromises and sometimes, they're not 100% there, hence --> heated meetings.
Maybe opinions would be different if we saw this "unidentified political object" known as the EU more as a way of its 27 states pursuing their interests, rather than as an entirely idealist project - after all, most national leaders see it as a way to pursue their interests.
Finally, and just to (at last) bring this thread to an end, this long piece by @POLITICOEurope illustrates where some of the EU's problems in handling the response come from.
Keep up the podcasts flowing, peace! https://www.politico.eu/article/coronavirus-europe-failed-the-test/
Keep up the podcasts flowing, peace! https://www.politico.eu/article/coronavirus-europe-failed-the-test/
