nEUwsletter 22/03/2020
- European Horizons Bangor
- Mar 22, 2020
- 6 min read
Outbreak COVID-19 in Europe
By Ruiling Zhang
The new crown virus caused 3,405 deaths in Italy, more than the 3,245 officially announced by China.
On Thursday (March 19), another 427 people died in Italy in one day. Coupled with Wednesday's highest record of 475 people, Italy has become the country with the highest number of deaths from the new crown virus in the world. Since Italy announced the decision to close the city on March 12, the epidemic situation has rapidly deteriorated. Authorities originally planned to close the city for two weeks to March 25, but the date of unblocking has been postponed. The Italian government demands that people continue to be separated at home. Obviously, Italy's anti-epidemic measures have not prevented the soaring number of infections and deaths.
Global Epidemic
The European Central Bank has launched an emergency financial assistance program worth 750 billion euros (about 820 billion US dollars) to help alleviate the impact of the epidemic.
France has implemented a national closure since Tuesday, and all residents must hold official working documents when they go out, or they will face a fine of 135 euros. French Interior Minister Christopher Castaner said on Thursday that the closure of the city may continue after the original 15th. He also revealed that 4095 people have been fined and 70,000 checkpoints have been set up in France so far.
In Spain, which also adopted a national closure strategy, the number of confirmed diagnoses exceeded 17,000, second only to Italy, China and South Korea. China, South Korea, Singapore and other Asian countries, the epidemic is expected to be repeated due to virus imports from abroad.
In another severely affected country, Iran, authorities have urged people not to attend large parties to celebrate the traditional New Year, but to choose to stay at home. Australia and New Zealand have declared border closures and non-residents are not allowed to enter. Los Angeles, New York and other places have started to release some prisoners to prevent the spread of the virus.
To date, 220,000 people have been diagnosed with the new crown virus infection and more than 8,800 people have died.
Will the EU fall into recession after the coronavirus crisis?
By Lise Faliu
Institute for New Economic thinking
“The Coronavirus pandemic is testing us all. This is not only an unprecedented challenge for our healthcare systems, but also a major shock for our economies. The important economic package announced today deal with the situation of today. We stand ready to do more as the situation evolves. We will do whatever is necessary to support the Europeans and the European economy.” This is what said President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen at the beginning of March 2020.
However, it would seem that despite the efforts of the leaders to patch up the irreversible effects of this pandemic on the European economy, it would seem that it is already too late. ‘According to the last OECD Economic Outlook, annual global GDP growth is projected to fall to 2.4% in 2020, from an already weak 2.9% in 2019, with a possible contraction of GDP in the first quarter of 2020; GDP growth in China could be below 5% this year, with a marked downward correction. The spread of the pandemic in Europe and the US will make the fall in GDP much larger, with stagnation or recession in all of Europe, and a significant fall – maybe in the range of 5% – for the most fragile economies of Southern Europe’ . As they add, all the sectors are already affected and the fact that the production chains will be shut down as well as the major drop in consumption, will have consequences once the crisis has passed.
In order to understand the economic and financial shortcomings of such a halt in the production of wealth at European level. A rapid response from the commission was immediately put in place. in fact, in Brussels, the leaders have implemented an action plan to try to manage the harmful consequences of the loss of activity. The objectives as presented were as follows : 'To ensure the necessary supplies to our health systems by preserving the integrity of the Single Market and of production and distribution of value chains; To support people so that income and jobs are not affected disproportionally and to avoid permanent effect of this crisis; To support firms and ensure that the liquidity of our financial sector can continue to support the economy; And to allow Member States to act decisively in a coordinated way, through using the full flexibility of our State Aid and Stability and Growth Pact Frameworks’ .
But despite all of these measures, the Guardian nevertheless points to the shadow of the recession that threatens europe in the years following the crisis : ‘On the economic front, a severe recession can no longer be avoided, and some economists are already calling for governments to introduce measures to shore up aggregate demand. But that recommendation is inadequate, given that the global economy is suffering from an unprecedented supply shock. People are not at work because they are sick or quarantined. In such a situation, demand stimulus will merely boost inflation, potentially leading to stagflation (weak or falling GDP growth alongside rising prices), as happened during the 1970s oil crisis, when another important production input was in short supply’ .
The European Union: notable absentee of national medias
By Charles Elie-Martin
According to a recent ViaVoice poll ordered by the European Movement, 55% of French people declared to be ill-informed on the European Union news. Consequently, 72% of French expressed their willing to be more informed on European matters. It appears clearly that EU-specific news are covered in a very limited extent in national medias. Indeed, according to the Jean-Jaurès foundation, the EU -its institutions, its actions and its relations with member States- is mentioned in only 2.7% of the broadcasted topics.
Why are EU-focused news important?
The EU policies are primordial nowadays it the sense that they cover almost every area of politics. However, the EU decision-makers are not well known by the EU citizens. As an example, 67% of French declared not to know Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission. The fact that the majority of people do not know the president of the main EU decision-making body is symptomatic of the critical lack of information on EU news. In that sense, a larger mediatical cover is required.
Besides, the aims of transparency and democracy within the EU are of public interest. This is related to criticisms formulated towards the EU since its birth. Indeed, the European institutions would be a technocracy detached from the people and disconnected from the reality. A better communication on European matters is therefore a response to those criticisms. Indeed, it would give the EU citizens an opportunity to understand the European institutions and consequently to get more involved in the political, economic and social life of the EU. Thus, the EU's most ancient problem, namely its lack of legitimacy, will be given a proper answer. Ultimately, a reasonable outcome would be the decrease of the abstention during the European Parliament elections (the abstention amounted to 49% at the 2019 elections).
How to provide a better mediatical cover?
TV channels and editorial offices must face the challenge of the ''deinstitutionalization'' of the EU. This aim may be achieved by reconnecting the decisions taken at the european scale with the everyday life of millions of Europeans. It must -and will- begin with a better and larger cover of topics directly related to the EU by medias. Then, the broadcasting of programs specifically dedicated to the the Europans institutions may arouse interest among EU citizens. Moreover, a more efficient broadcasting of the Euronews channel must be considered.
Besides, the aim of deinstitutionalization can be achieved through fiction. Indeed, the production of original creations on the EU may be an excellent mean to inform people about the political life of the EU. Two examples may be cited. On the one hand, the BBC series ''Years and Years'' retraces the everyday life of a Manchester family a few years after Brexit. On the other hand, the series 'Parlement' introduces five EU parliamentary assistants' daily work from the angle of comedy.
Finally, other initiatives aiming to provide EU news should be welcomed. At its scale, European Horizons attempts to communicate EU news as well as keys to fully apprehend the EU stakes. The work of independent organisations, associations, groupings, think-tanks, whose purposes are to pass on the will to think about the European Union through articles, debates, conferences, should not be underrated. Ultimately, it is the summation of these several little actions that will amount to collective awareness on the EU concerns.
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