Will Coronavirus Break the EU?

There's a growing bitterness developing in Italy, Spain and the other hard hit 'southern' regions of the EU. The bloc is hardly unified in its response to the virus pandemic. The lack of coordinated effort smacks of a 'every nation for itself' mentality as Pat Buchanan recently expressed.

The many day-to-day benefits of the EU have been found wanting and in other cases burdensome and oppressive. This is why the Right is on the rise in Europe and when this episode calms down they will receive a boost. Brussels has been idle and even cold and callous in its response.

The power players (led by France and Germany) have shown little interest in extending a helping hand to Italy, now (since the UK departure) the third largest economy in the union. If ever they wanted to hand Lega leader Matteo Salvini a gift, they've done it.

At this point no one knows just how severe the economic fallout will be. We're still at a fairly early point in the story and while markets have tanked, the governments are only just now starting to talk about stimulus and cutting checks. The debt is going to be massive as will unemployment. Many small businesses are unlikely to recover and reopen when the dust settles. One cannot help but think of the 1920's and 1930's and the events that led to the rise of fascist and authoritarian parties. The virus itself is but one component of what is rapidly becoming a larger story.