Shared values matter to a continent coming to terms with its past and hoping to portray itself as a global power
can access each other’s markets, the bloc has strict rules on how much help a government can give to domestic companies. When covid-19 hit, the commission loosened them, allowing governments to hand out cash to industries they feared might go under. Such aid, in the form of guarantees or wage supplements, has amounted to €1.9trn so far. German guarantees for German businesses account for just over half of this figure.
However this plan was staunchly opposed by small, rich, mostly northern countries, several of which have also had slightly fewer covid-related deaths than others . The Netherlands, Demark and Sweden all pooh-poohed the idea. The Dutch government offered a one-off grant of €1bn, about a tenth of a percent of the sum demanded by the Spanish government, as a gesture of goodwill.recovery fund should consist mainly of loans.
Shared values matter to a continent coming to terms with its past. They also matter for a continent that increasingly tries to influence the world, portraying itself as a global power. Ivan Krastev, a political scientist and the bloc’s most impish critic, sees two paths for the. Either it becomes more of a “mission”, going forth and evangelising European values globally, or it becomes a “monastery” and preaches only to Europeans within its precincts.
The result is that a constitutional reckoning has never seemed more necessary, yet it has never felt less likely. Hard questions proliferate: whether or not thewill pursue deeper integration, what role the bloc will play in global politics, and so on.
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