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The virus has killed more people in Italy than anywhere else in the world, but it was China, not its ... [+] neighbours who first came to its rescue.(Photo by Antonio Masiello/Getty Images)

Europe is facing its biggest crises since the Second World War with the invisible killer COVID-19 putting a strain on the Unions founding treaty of solidarity and adding a side effect of nationalism.

The virus has killed more people in Italy than anywhere else in the world, but its neighbors did not come to its rescue until much later Instead, it was China who first sent a planeload of respirators and masks to the country.

Free movement of goods and people is a key pillar of the European Union but that has been scraped with countries sealing off their own borders.

In an unprecedented move, many Schengen nations, such as the Czech Republic, France and Germany, started closing their frontiers even before the European Commission announced it would close the external EU border for 30 days.

Border closures due to coronavirus have meant couples like these on the Danish-German frontier can ... [+] no longer visit each other. (Photo by Frank Molter/picture alliance via Getty Images)

With no date set on when countries will re-open their borders, its every country for itself with some member states placing export bans on medical equipment.

Polandreportedlyblocked the export of hundreds of thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer destined for Norway, demanding the Norwegian company instead sent the product for use in Polish hospitals.

"The coronavirus crisis has been a test of EU capacity for coordination and a missed opportunity for intra-European solidarity, said Marga Gual Soler, a scholar at World Academy of Sciences and ex-advisor to the former EU Research Commissioner Carlos Moedas on science diplomacy.

She said while the EU cannot impose measures on member states, health and research ministers could come together in a common strategy for testing, quarantine and mobility measures, and joint research on drugs and vaccines.

The pandemic has also revealed how sharing health data has been tricky due to the differences in testing methods across EU member states.

Sharing the science behind coronavirus has been difficult across the EU.

The fragmented way that EU countries have responded to the outbreak for example in the different way how even infections and deaths are recorded shows the lack of and need for European crisis management capacities, said an EU supported group of researchers,Using Science for/in Diplomacy for Addressing Global Challenges.

But there is a bigger argument brewing in Brussels amid fears of a global recession and the economic impact of the virus.

During an EU video summit on 26 March, leaders could not agree on economic measures to lessen the financial blow caused by the pandemic.

Nine EU countries, including Italy, France and Spain are arguing in favor of so-

The European Commission President slammed EU members for not working together. (AP Photo/Olivier ... [+] Matthys)

called corona bonds to share the financial burden across the bloc.

By giving a clear message that we are facing this unique shock all together, we would strengthen the EU and the Economic and Monetary Union and ... provide the strongest message to our citizens about European determined cooperation and resolve to provide an effective and united response, they said in a joint letter ahead of the summit.

But the more frugal northern countries, including the Netherlands and Germany, argue against the move, afraid the Club Med countries could then exploit the crisis to push previous demands for eurozone members to pool public debt.

Italy and Spain now need immediate support to tackle the virus and will need support to cushion the financial and economic fallout, said Janis A. Emmanouilidis from the European Policy Centre.

One major lesson from previous crises (such as the migration crisis) is the EU will have to react strongly and quickly to stop it spiraling out of control and increasing the cost, he added.

Despite European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen heavily criticizing the lack of solidarity between members in saying when Europe really needed to be there for each other, too many initially looked out for themselves, there have been efforts to unite the bloc.

German hospitals took a handful of Italy's coronavirus patients for treatment. (Photo by Hendrik ... [+] Schmidt / POOL / AFP) (Photo by HENDRIK SCHMIDT/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

German hospitals began treating patients who had arrived from Italy this week and the EU approved $54 million to be used on medical equipment for Europes stretched hospitals and a fund of almost $900 for the hardest-hit members.

While those measures could have come in sooner, Europe showed it could come to its members rescue when the European Central Bank soothed fears on March 19 by creating a 750 billion (over $837 million) emergency bond-buying plan and promised further measures if needed.

Von der Leyen also announced a revision to the EUs budget proposal on 28 March to deal with the economic blow caused by the pandemic.

As the EU begins to fuse together on health care and economic measures, sending an important message to its citizens that it is unified, the bloc will have to prove it can cope and deal with the crisis.

But before that, there is an immediate need for member states to coordinate with each other to tackle the mid and long term political and economic challenges.

Excerpt from:
Coronavirus Infects Europe With More Divisions And Nationalist Spirit - Forbes

The latest incidents on the Kenya-Somalia border and the recent build-up of security forces in the Gedo region have created instability and resulted in casualties and large-scale displacement of civilians. This has had a severe humanitarian impact notably on vulnerable women and children. The fighting in Galmudug at the end of February has also fuelled tensions. Overall, these situations are extremely serious. Furthermore, they divert assets and attention away from military operations against al-Shabaab in Lower and Middle Shabelle and jeopardize hard won stability in Somalia. They are also detrimental to Somalias relationships with its neighbours and partners. Urgent steps must be taken to de-escalate.

Full cooperation is needed between the Federal Government of Somalia and the Federal Member States as well as amongst regional partners. Lasting solutions must be found to safeguard the ongoing efforts to degrade al-Shabaab, to build-up integrated Somali security forces and to create a secure and enabling environment for state building and development.

All parties involved should do everything necessary to reduce tensions, exercise restraint, respect the integrity of sovereign borders and seek peaceful resolution of differences between one another.

The European Union underlines the importance of stability and good cooperation among Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia in their common border area where they have shared interests. The engagement and outreach from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, (IGAD) is welcomed in this regard, as well as the recent communication between the Presidents of Somalia and Kenya on 5March. An anticipated summit between the heads of state and government of Somalia and its neighbours is urgent. It should consider incorporating steps to verify and monitor the situation on the ground as a confidence building measure.

The European Union has always been a strong supporter of Somali state building, notably in the economic and security areas. Recently this commitment was translated into a firm support to Somalias debt relief process. The current military situation also calls for an urgent discussion on the state of implementation of agreed joint priorities in the political and security sphere.

This discussion is an important element to continue to strengthen the effective cooperation between Somalia and its international partners in the spirit of mutual accountability and partnership.

Read the original post:
Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the latest developments in Somalia - EU News

Italy is in lockdown. Schools and universities are closed, soccer games suspended, and restaurant visits banned amid a rapid spread of the novel coronavirus in the country. Just grocery stores and pharmacies are allowed to stay open, and only absolutely necessary travel is permitted. One might think that fellow European Union countries would count their blessings and send their Italian friends a few vital supplies, especially since the Italians have asked for it. They have sent nothing.

EU countries shameful lack of solidarity with the Italians points to a larger problem: What would European countries do if one of them faced an even greater crisis?

The Union Civil Protection Mechanism is the bland name under which the EUs crisis hubthe Emergency Response Coordination Centreoperates. It monitors natural and manmade disasters around the clock, and when an EU member state can no longer handle a crisis on its own it can turn to the crisis hub. The hub forwards the appeal to other member states, which can then volunteer assistance. (The assistance is later reimbursed by the recipient country.)

Two years ago, for example, with devastating forest fires spreading around the country, Sweden turned to the Emergency Response Coordination Centre, and Stockholms plea yielded a heartwarming response. Portugal sent two firefighting aircraft; Germany contributed five helicopters and 53 firefighters; Lithuania sent one helicopter and Norway eight. France dispatched 60 firefighters and two aircraft; Denmark sent 60 firefighters; Poland sent over 130 firefighters and more than 40 fire trucks. Italy, itself in a dangerous forest-fire season, sent two aircraft.

When the European helpers arrived in Sweden, locals greeted them with applause. It was a powerful illustration of a frequently forgotten reality: The European Union is about more than tedious financial transactions; its also about helping fellow European countries in need.

Last month, when COVID-19 began spreading rapidly in Italy, the country appealed for help via the Emergency Response Coordination Centre. We asked for supplies of medical equipment, and the European Commission forwarded the appeal to the member states, Italys permanent representative to the EU, Maurizio Massari, told me. But it didnt work.

So far, not a single EU member state has sent Italy the needed supplies. Thats tragic for a country with 21,157 coronavirus infections and 1,441 deaths as of March 14, and with medical staff working under severe shortages of supplies.

To be sure, all governments need to make sure they have enough supplies for their own hospitals, patients, and medical staff. But no European country is suffering remotely as badly as Italy. Spain and France have a high caseload, but as of March 14, Finland has just 225 cases, and Italys neighbor Austria only 655. Portugal has 169 cases; Ireland 90; Romania, 109; Poland, 93; Bulgaria, 37; and Hungary has 25 cases. Many of those countries have benefited greatly from European solidarity in the past; a number of them are net beneficiaries of the EU, meaning they get more money out of their membership than they pay into it. The United Kingdom, no longer a member of the European Union, has 1,140 coronavirus casesand it, too, has failed to help the Italians.

In the meantime, a partial and flawed savior has arrived. Close to midnight on March 12, a Chinese aircraft landed in Rome carrying nine medical experts and 31 tons of medical supplies including intensive care unit equipment, medical protective equipment, and antiviral drugs. Around the same time, a Chinese truck arrived in Italy bringing more than 230 boxes of medical equipment. It was less than Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi had promised Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio of Italy in a phone call on Tuesday, but two days after the phone call the supplies were on their way.

Italy has already had a taste of Europes lack of solidarity. During the 2015 refugee crisis some 1.7 million people arrived on EU territory, mostly in Italy and Greece (with Germany and Sweden the most common destinations), but in 2017 some EU member states were still refusing to accept them under a solidarity scheme. The coronavirus crisis is similar to the refugee crisis: Countries that are not immediately affected are mostly not willing to help, Massari said. Different countries obviously have different threat perceptions. We [Italy] feel that the coronavirus is a global and European threat that needs a European response, but other countries dont see it that way.

Europes selfishness is morally lamentable, and its unwise, because misery loves company. A struggling Italy will drag its European friends down, too, starting with their economies. But the cold response to Italys plea points to a larger issue: How would European allies respond in case of crisis even more devastating than the coronavirussay, a massive cyberattack that knocks out power for a prolonged period of time? Without electrical power, other critical functions quickly cease to function, too. Brno University Hospital home to one of the Czech Republics largest COVID-19 testing labshas already been hit by a serious cyber attack.

The fact that no countrywith the possible exception of Chinacan survive without close allies is the reason that NATO was founded 71 years ago and the European Coal and Steel Community three years later. NATOs member states are supposed to do their best to defend their countries, but they all know that they need one another: Collective defense is NATOs raison dtre. Only the United States has considerable supplies of ammunition; all the other member states know that they can turn to the U.S. military if they run out, as happened during NATOs 2011 intervention in Libya.

Yet at a moment of extreme hardship for a key EU (and NATO) member, Italys allies are showing that they cant be counted on in a severe crisisand that means Italy may increasingly turn toward China. It will remain stalwart member of the EU and NATO, but why should it support its various European allies next time theyre in a pinch? And why should it pay heed to European allies calls for it to reverse its participation in Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, which it joined last year?

The Belt and Road, Chinas vast global infrastructure program, involves investments and constructions in a range of countries, primarily developing countries. Italy and China have, however, been deepening their cooperation through the Belt and Road Initiative and beyond; last year, a police cooperation program saw Chinese police officers patrol the streets of Rome and Milan.

And why should Italy keep its some 6,000 troops on foreign missions, troops who lead and make up large parts of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon and NATOs forces in Kosovo, soldiers who help defend Latvia as part of NATOs Enhanced Forward Presence, and sailors who participate in the EUs mission combating Somali piracy and who police the western Mediterranean for the benefit not just of Italy but the rest of Europe, too?

La maledizione! cries Rigoletto, the title character in Giuseppe Verdis famous opera. La maledizionethe cursesometimes seems to be Italys destiny. EU membership has been mostly good for Italy. Its economy has been propelled upward by the single market and the euro, and its citizens have benefited enormously from free movementsome 2.7 million Italians currently live in other EU member states. And Italians appreciate the alliance: a 2018 Pew Research Center survey showed that 58 percent of Italians have a favorable view of the EU, somewhat lower than the EU median of 62 percent but far higher than Greeces 37 percent. On March 13, the European Commission stepped in to at least help Italys economy, but so far no medical assistance from member states has materialized.

Indeed, with the current lack of solidarity, the EU might lose Italys affectionand China will happily continue to take advantage of the situation. That mustnt happen.

Instead, the EUs net beneficiaries (and low-coronavirus-count nations) such as Slovakia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Poland should send Italy face masks and whatever else the country might need. Indeed, would it be too much to ask those countries to fulfill their obligations under the EUs solidarity scheme?

Otherwise, dont expect Italian soldiers to come to the aid of European allies when Russia stages a surprise on a European country of its choice, or when a hostile state or its proxies knock out Polands power grid.

Read more from the original source:
The EU Is Abandoning Italy During the Coronavirus Crisis - Foreign Policy

checkpoint on March 10, 2020 in Milan, Italy, after the Italian Government took the unprecedented measure of a nationwide lockdown

Getty Images

Topline: There are now confirmed cases of Covid-19 in every EU country, figures from the European Centre For Disease Prevention and Control show, with Italythe worst affected country outside Chinanow entirely on lockdown.

mall was deserted on Tuesday as Italy awoke to a nationwide lockdown

AFP via Getty Images

In numbers: There are nearly 15,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 across the EU and the U.K. Globally, there have been almost 115,000 confirmed cases to date, since the outbreak began in Wuhan, China, late last year.

Key background: Italy has the largest cluster of Covid-19 cases outside China, with the northern, wealthier regions of Lombardy, Emilia Romagna and Veneto the hardest hit. A lockdown that was imposed on those two regions was extended to the rest of the country this week, with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tweeting: The future of Italy is in our hands. Lets all do our part, by giving up something for our collective good. The U.S. State Department is advising people to reconsider travel to Italy as of Tuesday morning, but this restriction may well tighten. High profile cultural events have been cancelled or cut short, while top tier Serie A football matches have been played behind closed doors to prevent large gatherings.

I am a breaking news reporter for Forbes in London, covering Europe and the U.S. Previously I was a news reporter for HuffPost UK, the Press Association and a night

I am a breaking news reporter for Forbes in London, covering Europe and the U.S. Previously I was a news reporter for HuffPost UK, the Press Association and a night reporter at the Guardian. I studied Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics, where I was a writer and editor for one of the universitys global affairs magazines, the London Globalist. That led me to Goldsmiths, University of London, where I completed my M.A. in Journalism. Got a story? Get in touch at isabel.togoh@forbes.com, or follow me on Twitter @bissieness. I look forward to hearing from you.

Read more:
Covid-19 Has Now Spread To Every Country In The European Union - Forbes

LONDON Hoping to replace that two-year-old smartphone in a few months? The European Union wants you to think twice about doing that.

The bloc announced an ambitious plan on Wednesday that would require manufacturers of electronic products, from smartphones to tumble driers, to offer more repairs, upgrades and ways to reuse existing goods, instead of encouraging consumers to buy new ones.

The right to repair, part of a wide-ranging policy package known as the Green Deal that was introduced this month, is the latest example of the European Unions ambitions to promote more sustainable economic growth and to prevent waste. It extends standards brought in last year that put right to repair obligations on the manufacturers of some large appliances.

The linear growth model of take-make-use-discard has reached its limits, Virginijus Sinkevicius, the unions environment commissioner, told reporters in Brussels as he presented the Circular Economy Action Plan, which includes the right to repair initiative.

We want to make sure that products placed on E.U. market are designed to last longer, to be easier to repair and upgrade, easier to recycle and easier to reuse, he added.

The plans are being put forward by the blocs executive arm, the European Commission. To become law, they would need to win the approval of the European Unions Parliament and the governments of its 27 member states, a process experts say would take at least four years.

But Mr. Sinckevicius said the proposal reflected a growing demand from consumers. According to the commissioner, surveys have found that two-thirds of European citizens want their electronic devices to serve them longer. They have also indicated support for clearer indications on a products life span, easier repairs or more readily available replacement parts.

Manufacturers like Apple take old iPhones back when consumers buy a new one, but the E.U. plan wants them to go one step further: If implemented, it would encourage consumers to buy less and to keep a product in use as long as possible, and encourage industries to consider recycling only when a device is no longer usable.

Environmental groups said the plan represented a shift from the European Unions current policy, which is mostly based on recycling. A law passed in 2012 required countries to collect 65 tons of electronic waste for every 100 tons of goods put on sale by 2019, but members have not met such targets. Less than 40 percent of European electronic waste is recycled, according to E.U. estimates.

With the right to repair, upgrading a phones software, replacing the battery of a tablet, or buying a new display for a laptop instead of changing the whole device would become easier, said Jean-Pierre Schweitzer, from the European Environmental Bureau, a network of environmental citizens groups.

We know people are ready for it, said Mr. Schweitzer, who focuses on circular economy and product policy at the network. The measures that the commission wants to take on products and repair are very, very good.

The plan also includes measures to introduce a common charger for smartphones an effort that the European Union has long tried to implement, with little success targets to reduce packaging, and a new framework to recycle batteries and textiles, among other measures.

Mr. Sinkevicius, the European commissioner, said the measures were essential if Europe was to meet its aim under the Green Deal: becoming a net zero emitter of greenhouse gases by 2050. What we are trying to reach is a little bit different perception of the economic model, he said this week.

But just as climate activists criticized the Green Deal as too vague, and for not setting a 2030 target, advocates like Mr. Schweitzer also faulted the European Commission for not setting broader, compulsory targets to reduce resource consumption.

Its not all negative, Mr. Schweitzer said. But where do we want the economy to be in the next couple of years? How much do we want to reduce our material or water footprint? Were missing the big picture.

Continued here:
Europe Wants a Right to Repair Smartphones and Gadgets - The New York Times