Coronavirus is a one-off opportunity for the EU – can they take it?

Europe is a union only when times are good; when they are bad it is every man for himself

 
In terms of my political risk career, betting against Europe rising to superpower status—as many left-leaning commentators blithely predicated in the early 2000s—has, to put it mildly, not hurt me any.

This is not due to some hateful, xenophobic prejudice against Europe; I have lived in the place for two-thirds of my adult life, and readily admit I adore its quality of life over anything else I have encountered (certainly compared to my decade in Washington).

But the European project, particularly the European Union (EU), has always struck me as one that does better in the sunshine than in the rain. Cosseted for the decades of the Cold War beneath NATO’s nurturing umbrella, the EU came to think that it, and not the transatlantic alliance, was providing the continent security in a dangerous world, which is a bit like the bird perpetually sat on the back of a rhinoceros thinking it is moving the great beast.

This decadent, utopian assumption that calamities have been abolished finds Europe once again psychologically unprepared for disaster, this time in the form of coronavirus.

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Πηγή: capx.co