Is the European Union doing enough to battle the coronavirus pandemic?

Last updated on February 27th, 2023 at 06:56 am

In the month of March, when the coronavirus started spreading outside China, such as Italy, France, Spain, and Germany, and the UK, Europe became the focal point of the epidemic with a constant rise in the number of positive cases and deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the infectious novel coronavirus as a pandemic.

Yesterday in an interview with the BBC, Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte cautioned that all EU leaders need to rise to this test, stand unified and strongly respond to fight coronavirus. If the EU neglects to come up with a fiscal and monetary policy soon, then without a doubt, the Italians, as well as the EU residents, will be profoundly disappointed.

Italy alone has recorded 17,000 deaths lately, including 100 doctors due to the Covid-19. Italy was one of the leading European countries to announce a lockdown when the deadly virus majorly hit the nation. Many researchers and experts criticized the EU for not taking an organized step in containing the pandemic and its economic consequences. According to Statista, the total number of coronavirus cases reported in Europe from January 25 to April 9 is 747,914.

On Tuesday, The President of the European Research Council, Mauro Ferrari, resigned as he was accused by Brussels agency for not being able to adequately support treatment and immunizations because of the absence of coordinated action to contain Covid-19.

According to the BBC News, Ferrari’s resignation statement cited that he had been hindered from funding treatment and vaccines from handling the health crisis.

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The EU nations will hopefully take coordinated measures and improve their moderate actions on the Covid-19 pandemic. After massive criticism, on April 8, the EU and its members plan for a strong and targeted EU response to help member nations’ in managing and controlling the coronavirus pandemic.

The new EU collective plan will incorporate strengthening the EU member nations, handling health crises, humanitarian needs, sanitizing, and preparing in advance to manage the financial crisis that has hit them hard. As per President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, “The European Union is working tirelessly to battle the pandemic.”

Article Credit: The Financial Times/BBC/European Union