This is what COVID-19 has wrought.
Lofty hopes that the crisis would encourage a new and tighter bloc to face a common challenge have given way to the reality of division: The pandemic has set member nation against member nation, and many capitals against the EU itself, as symbolized by the disjointed, virtual meetings the leaders now hold.
Leaders fight over everything from virus passports to push tourism to the conditions for receiving pandemic aid. Perhaps worse, some attack the very structures the EU built to deal with the pandemic. Last month, Austrian Chancellor
"Internal political cohesion and respect for European values continue to be challenged in different corners of the Union," the European Policy Center said in a study one year after the pandemic swept from
In some places, there have been demands for political accountability.
In the
But overall, political upheaval across the EU has been muted, considering that half a million people have died in the pandemic. At the EU level, there has been no serious call for the ouster of
It is clear that the EU has not risen to the occasion so far — and it's not clear if it can. The European Policy Center noted that “there is no immediate end in sight to the health crisis, not to mention the inevitable structural economic challenges.”
The typical complaint is that there is no united EU health structure to tackle the pandemic and that largely health is still a national domain. But for years, the bloc has had a common drug regulator, the
But while some non-EU nations were speeding ahead with emergency use authorizations, the EMA moved more slowly, at least in part because it followed a process that was largely similar to the standard licensing procedure that would be granted to any new vaccine. The agency's first vaccine greenlight came some three weeks after one was OK'd in the
The bloc never caught up. On Friday, the
And while nations like
On top of missteps with the vaccine rollout, the EU will be slow to disburse money from its
The nature of the crisis may be different from past ones, but familiar obstacles arose: onerous bureaucracy, unnecessary delays as legalistic and technical disputes overshadowed the bigger picture, and bickering politicians putting self-interest before the common good.
This past week was a case in point. The EMA reiterated its advice for all member nations to stand together — this time to keep on using the
Instead, hours after the announcement,
“If government leaders don’t trust the science, trust in vaccination is gone. If we don’t rely on (the EMA), ANY common EU approach is doomed,” said leading EU parliamentarian
It is noteworthy that the EU nations insisted on delaying their vaccination drives in December specifically because they wanted to wait for the EMA's decision. But many have repeatedly ignored the EMA advice in the months since, setting more restrictions on vaccine use than the agency has called for.
This extreme hesitancy by many countries — in addition to often seesawing advice — has become a hallmark of a vaccination rollout gone wrong. It has exacerbated the supply and issues of trust the bloc has faced.
With barely half of the doses that the EU had contracted for the first quarter delivered — 105 million instead of 195 million — the video summit last month saw EU nations squabbling over shots and a distribution system that a few thought unfair.
Now there are expectations the EU can turn it around. It is hoping for 360 million shots this quarter — that would keep the promise alive to vaccinate 70% of adults by the end of summer in the bloc of 450 million inhabitants.
In
By then, EU leaders might even mingle in person again at summits that go through the night.
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