European leaders warn coronavirus could lead to the breakup of their union

Loveday Morris, Michael Birnbaum – April 1, 2020

BERLIN —The coronavirus pandemic, with its simultaneous health and economic crises, is

deepening fault lines within Europe in a way some leaders fear could prove to be a final reckoning.

The cohesion of the European Union had been battered by Brexit, bruised by the political fallout from the 2015 migration surge and the 2008 financial crisis, and challenged by rising autocracy in the east that runs contrary to the professed ideals of the European project.

Now, if Europe’s leaders cannot chart a more united course, the project lies in what one of its architects described this week as “mortal danger.”

In the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, the response among European Union member states showed that national interests trump more-altruistic European ideals. Border restrictions were reimposed haphazardly, and Germany and France threw up export bans on medical equipment such as masks and ventilators, even as Italy clamored for assistance.

Quick to capitalize were the propaganda machines of Russia and China. Moscow and Beijing have swept in with much-trumpeted — if sometimes defective — medical aid, pushing a savior narrative and providing fodder for the region’s Euroskeptics.

E.U. countries have begun to coordinate their efforts to procure supplies, and they have sent more aid to hard-hit Italy than China has. But the past week has seen a reemergence of a north-south rift over how to handle the economic response. The union is also being pulled east and west, as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has used emergency powers to effectively suspend democracy, riding roughshod over Europe’s basic principles of the rule of law.

Collectively, these tensions could overwhelm the alliance.

https://www.msn.com

‘Dominoes to Start Toppling’: Ex-Brexit Party MEP ‘Foretells’ Next Country to Leave EU

Sputnik News – February 16, 2020

Following the UK’s official exit from the EU on 31 January, all eyes currently are on Britain’s efforts to clinch new trade deals with other countries as well as the bloc during an 11-month transition period.

Former Brexit Party MEP Martin Daubney has claimed that proof of successful life post-Brexit may prod the EU’s “dominoes to topple”, making other bloc members officially announce their bids to withdraw from the organisation.

In an interview with the Daily Express on Sunday, Daubney referred to his brief stint in the European Parliament, during which he heard increasing anti-EU sentiments among a whole array of member states which are now “watching what happens next.”

“It’s amazing how many friends we’ve made. We’ve not been these renegades, we’ve got a lot of mates from the German, the Polish. They’ve been giving us a standing ovation when we put our flags on our desks, standing up for the national flag. Make no mistake, eurosceptics are watching what happens next”, he said.

Daubney asserted in this context that it will be Germany that may become next member to exit from the EU if Britain provides it with “evidence” of success outside the bloc.

“If we can forge it on our own, we can go ahead and strike out and become a huge international force without the EU”, he said, adding that the Germans, who “like evidence” may follow suit.

“When they see the evidence that you can stand outside the EU, I think the dominoes are going to start toppling. We’re the first to go, we’re not the last”, Daubney claimed.

https://sputniknews.com