European solidarity turned into farce at the time of testing
“The coronavirus has exposed hypocrisy. This is the true face of Europe”- under this heading the Italian newspaper“Giornale”published on the front page on March 14 an article accusing the European Union of betrayal for the fact that the EU did not provide assistance to Italy, which became a victim of the epidemic.
It's not just globalization that is crumbling, Giornale notes. “The infection dealt a blow to the confidence of rampant liberalism in the market, all of whose victories were canceled out in an instant. Wall Street is in an unprecedented crisis; hundreds of billions of euros have evaporated in just one day of the exchange. Faith in finances has faded … In these few weeks, Europe has disappeared, turning its back on those who need help."
Italy has become the main victim of the outbreak of a pandemic in Europe. The number of infected is already about 18 thousand, and according to the latest data, 1266 people died from coronavirus in the Apennines, and 250 of them - in the last day alone. However, instead of European solidarity, the EU neighbors began to close their borders with Italy, as Austria and Slovenia have already done.
Today, the production of masks necessary to combat the pandemic is concentrated in China (up to 90%), and it turned out that in Europe there is an acute shortage of protective equipment. According to Alberto Spashani, a spokesman for a company that produces gas masks and goggles for the Italian army, the government should immediately convene the manufacturers of protective materials to organize the production of masks at affordable prices and provide economic assistance to entrepreneurs. However, nothing was done. As a result, speculators began to inflate the prices of masks. The government announced its intention to purchase 34 million masks, but they are now not available on the market.
Not ready to fight the virus and the Italian National Health Service. As the weekly "Espresso" writes, "our publication asked this question to doctors … economists, scientists, experts, members of municipalities. The unanimous answer is no. We're not ready!"
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According to the minimum estimate, in order to catch up with other European countries, Espresso believes, Italy lacks investments of 10 billion euros. Italy needs another 47,000 employees, most of them paramedics, as well as doctors and technical staff, just to ensure the provision of basic services. The scarcity of people is so severe that, to avoid the collapse of the Italian health care system, Minister Walter Ricciardi is pushing for the immediate implementation of an emergency plan for hiring doctors and medical personnel.
The EU and the Italian government have accused the EU and the Italian government of the lack of proper assistance from the "united Europe", although so far in a cautious manner. Thus, Italian Ambassador to the European Union Maurizio Massari said that Brussels needs to "go beyond interaction and consultations" and develop "urgent, concrete, effective actions." The Italian authorities were particularly outraged by the fact that EU member states did not respond to Italy's call for additional supplies of medical equipment, including medical masks. Germany and France are among the EU countries that have imposed restrictions on the export of medical equipment, while China has offered to sell Italy 1,000 ventilators, 2 million masks, 20,000 protective suits and 50,000 coronavirus tests.
"Italy has asked to activate the civil protection mechanism in the European Union for the supply of medical equipment … Unfortunately, not a single EU country responded to the call," says Maurizio Massari.
The European Union is still getting off with promises. During the recent two-hour “electronic summit”, EU leaders pledged to increase coordination and free up funds up to 25 billion euros. However, in Italy the number of victims is already in the hundreds, and nothing concrete has yet been done by the EU. Moreover, Brussels could not even agree on coordinated financial incentives to support national health systems and the economy.
Italians, locked in their homes due to the epidemic, react to disaster in a peculiar way. According to Corriere della Sera, it all started with a musical flash mob launched by the Roman street orchestra Fanfa Roma, which posted a video that quickly became popular. “We will open the windows, go out onto the balconies and start playing music, so that our whole country will turn into a giant free concert,” the musicians called. They were supported by the mayor of Rome, Virginia Raji: "We will all sing together, let everyone hear that we are a society, although we cannot even touch each other."
Many followed the call. The newspaper writes that the girl goes out onto the balcony and sings the national anthem of Italy on the clarinet; a woman plays the harp on the terrace; in Bologna, the head of the quarter went out onto the balcony with a guitar and sang the folk song "Fisherman"; in Naples, in the Spagnoli quarter, two elderly ladies began waving sheets to greet their neighbors; in Turin, in the absence of musical instruments, enthusiasts hit pans or pot lids. And some hang national flags on their balconies as a sign of the upcoming victory over the virus …
However, patriotic songs and beating pots cannot defeat the virus. Italy is experiencing a traumatic discovery - European solidarity turned into a farce at the time of the test.
Author: VLADIMIR MALYSHEV