WANTED: Euro­pean Soli­da­rity

The EU is playing treasure hunt: The treasure is soli­da­rity among the member states, the corner­stone of the EU. In times of corona this treasure got lost because the players – also known as the EU member states – decided to go into lock­down. poli­ti­ko­range editor Lisa-Marie thinks: That was maybe well-meant but for sure badly done.

How a crisis made the EU forget about its corner­stone

Flash­back to mid-March: Most EU member states went into lock­down within a few days in order to protect the people living in their states. They suspended the free­doms coming with the Schengen Agree­ment. Accor­ding to a survey for the Euro­pean Commis­sion from 2019, EU citi­zens believe that this agree­ment is the grea­test Euro­pean achie­ve­ment of all. One quote by Franc But, the Slove­nian Ambassador to Berlin, sums up what many poli­ti­cians from diffe­rent count­ries say about the closure of the internal EU-borders:

It was not friendly, not Euro­pean, but totally neces­sary.

Not only has this shown how a pandemic can drasti­cally change the Euro­pean prio­ri­ties: The number of confirmed corona cases was incre­asing. Many people were afraid. The situa­tion was new to ever­yone, but poli­ti­cians had to react quickly and present solu­tions to the people on how to fight the virus. Under time pres­sure closing the borders might have seemed like the best solu­tion to regain a feeling of control. Nevert­heless, it is more than debatable whether it was really helpful.

Why border closure is not the best measure

This virus knows no borders.

With these words, Euro­pean Commis­sion Presi­dent Ursula von der Leyen under­lined the importance of toge­ther­ness when talking about a vaccine against the coro­na­virus. However, what she said and what the EU did could not be more contra­dic­tory. The EU member states should have taken her message more seriously.

In order to lower the number of corona cases, it was most essen­tial that people prac­ticed social distancing, which is gene­rally diffi­cult for people because humans are social beings that are used to being in contact with others. And even if people manage to deal with that – it is still extre­mely hard for many to prevent being in contact with others due to their work. Nevert­heless, during corona a ​„normal“ social life is not possible. Closing the borders aimed at preven­ting people from other count­ries from infec­ting the citi­zens in their own country. But people inside one country could still infect each other. Border closures cannot make people respect the distance rules in general – it only prevents them from crossing borders.

As a result, the harm the border closure created may be greater than the benefit: The EU member states could have shown that they could solve the crisis toge­ther by coope­ra­tion and common measures. Instead, they created not just a physical but also a mental sepa­ra­tion. There was no soli­da­rity among the member states but mostly egoism. This was espe­ci­ally hard for the people living directly at the Schengen borders. Usually living nearby the internal EU-borders is living Europe. During the closure, people there really got to feel the rest­ric­tions. It should be a top prio­rity now to reopen the borders and learn from what has happened. It is time to remember that the Euro­pean Union is really meant to act as a union to solve crises in the future. Hopefully, the EU will find and keep this treasure in the future.