Sputnik News – April 3, 2020
Twelve years after the 2008 global economic crisis the future of the European bloc is in question again as the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed deep internal divisions at a time when a common solution is needed, economic observers say, predicting the potential demise of the EU.
On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron warned EU member states that the coronavirus crisis may shatter the pillars of the bloc and bring an end to the no-border Schengen Zone unless the countries in the union demonstrate solidarity.
“What’s at stake is the survival of the European project”, Macron told his fellow EU leaders during a conference call on 26 March. “The risk we are facing is the death of Schengen”.
On 17 March, European leaders announced that they had agreed to shut the EU’s external borders down for 30 days in a bid to slow the coronavirus spread. However, 14 of the bloc’s 27 members have closed their internal borders either completely or partially thus throwing the EU no-border concept into question.
Likewise, EU member states have failed to reach a compromise on debt-sharing amid the COVID-19-driven economic slowdown. Nine EU countries, namely, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Portugal, Greece, and Slovenia are urging the union to issue so-called “corona bonds”, i.e. a common debt instrument aimed at raising funds on the market. The so-called “Frugal Four” – Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Finland are resisting the measure.
Observers are sounding the alarm over the unfolding split within the Eurozone, suggesting that though the 2008 financial crisis fell short of axing the bloc’s common currency the coronavirus crisis might end with the breakup of the EU.