History is an unforgiving judge; that is why historical cycles play nasty tricks on us from time to time. Since the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFREU) in December 2009, we have experienced the Euro and sovereign debt crisis, the refugee crisis, Brexit and now COVID-19 and the inevitable recession to come.
We are coming from the deepest and longest series of crises since the European project was launched. Europe was built in the aftermath of war. It is true that part of Europe’s will is fading, partly because of the passing of the generation that experienced first-hand the devastation caused by the Second World War.
Even so, the return of language with warlike resonances - ‘we are at war’, we are told, ‘the war of our generation’, and ‘the virus is the enemy’ - is surprising, following 75 years of peace on the same soil that shed so much blood.
We should be wary of such language, and its consequences. We risk too much by spreading fear and anguish about the future, and we face vulnerability to political and electoral exploitation by unscrupulous actors propagating extreme nationalism, reactionary populism, spreading fake news and generating uncertainty and disorientation.
This is the most harmful and potentially dangerous virus that the EU faces. Expressed in the language of war: ‘Fear is the enemy!’.
Let us be clear, security matters. It is a priority for the EU as a whole. Now, in these times of unprecedented drama, providing security for citizens must be a renewed objective for the EU.
“The havoc wreaked must be repaired, offering a tomorrow for many broken lives cut short by the pandemic, the cessation of activity and the massive destruction of jobs and opportunities”
The European Parliament has assumed its legislative responsibility in articulating this priority, supporting the Internal Security Strategy set by the European Commission.
This is exemplified by the e‑ orts of the LIBE Committee to facilitate adoption of the Interoperability Package.
But the pro-European majority also recalls the validity of the CFREU, which respects the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality in any measures that impact on the fundamental rights of European citizens (particularly those that impose restrictions on freedom of movement, in what has become known as ‘the great confinement’).
Despite a growing number of rabidly Europhobic seats in both the European and national parliaments, the pro-European majority is vigorously combating the falsely positioning migrants and asylum seekers as a supposed threat to national security and identity.
It refutes the most distinctive argument of this reactionary xenophobia, which feeds and multiplies attitudes that are contrary to European integration.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and during the recovery that will follow, the pro-European majority in the EP calls for responses that are in keeping with the Rule of Law. And it insists, emphatically; the law matters too.
This conviction is reflected in all areas of the Parliament’s activities. This is also the case in the LIBE Committee: it applies to the analysis that the Schengen suspension measures deserve (which must be communicated and, if necessary, extended in compliance with the time limits laid down in the Schengen Borders Code, which remains in force).
“We risk too much by spreading fear and anguish about the future, and we face vulnerability to political and electoral exploitation by unscrupulous actors”
It applies to the emergency laws adopted by Member States and the need for them to comply with the principles of the Rule of Law, democracy and fundamental rights, and it applies to the communication tracking and infection tracing apps, which must comply with the European standards of the Data Protection Package.
The landscape of the EU following the battle against COVID-19 will be shaped by these great upheavals. The havoc wreaked must be repaired, offering a tomorrow for many broken lives cut short by the pandemic, the cessation of activity and the massive destruction of jobs and opportunities.
A European response commensurate with the scale of the challenge is essential - and in my view cannot be postponed - maximising its fi repower with all available tools - the ECB, the EIB, MEDE, extraordinary liquidity.
There also needs to be own resources and extraordinary funds, in the European Budget, in the MFF and in the national budgets of Member States. No preconditions. No penalties for “excessive deficits”.
And without cuts imposed on their public sectors, let alone on the capacities of their health systems.
But, in additions, we will have to think about restoring security, because security is the basis of trust; trust between Member States and trust in the European project. And restoring the validity and operability of one of the EU’s most precious assets - free movement in the Schengen area.
Without air traffic, communications and exchanges, there is not and will not be any recovery in sight. And we will have to re-establish the bond of trust and feeling of belonging to the EU as a whole, which has been brutally battered among the citizens of the EMMs where the perception of a lack of solidarity is most evident.
The overriding feeling is that the EU is facing an existential crisis, a stress test in which its own survival is at stake. President von der Leyen ends all her speeches with ‘Vive l’Europe! Long Live Europe! Es Lebe Europa!’ Let’s make it happen. Let’s keep the EU alive.