COVID Politics, European Style
This post was written March 20, 2020.
Everything is political — even, it seems, a respiratory virus that infects indiscriminately, regardless of age, gender, political or sexual orientation, nationality, or ethnicity. That is what recent months have illustrated, as the novel coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, has swept the globe, beginning in China and ravaging Europe specifically in the past three weeks. However, there is a difference between an event — in this case, a global pandemic — seemingly exogenous to politics having political implications, and that same event being purposefully leveraged for political gain. There is evidence of both in the European reaction to the devastation of the virus, which could have serious implications for the post-virus reality.
Matteo Salvini, head of the League party in Italy, is guilty of the latter, when, in the early stages of the outbreak in Italy (which has since surpassed China in its death toll from the virus), he criticized the Italian government for allowing a rescue ship carrying African migrants to disembark.[1] [2] All the migrants onboard were quarantined for fourteen days and checked for symptoms of the virus. At a press conference, Salvini said, ‘‘The government has underestimated the coronavirus. Allowing the migrants to land from Africa, where the presence of the virus was confirmed, is irresponsible.” At the time of this statement, only one case, in Egypt, had been confirmed in Africa.[3] A man who has made a political career out of “defending [Italy’s] borders,” Salvini was stripped of his senatorial immunity so he could be prosecuted for refusing to allow migrants to disembark in Italy, which prosecutors say amounts to de facto kidnapping.[4] Salvini used the current crisis to add to his list of reasons to deny migrants and to reinforce a xenophobic fear of the other (even, and especially, when they fear was completely unfounded). In an extremely multiethnic and multicultural Europe that now finds itself in a deep crisis, such divisive rhetoric undermines what should and has to be a period of solidarity.
Aside from blatant political maneuvering, there are more institutional effects of the coronavirus outbreak that could more deeply entrench nationalism and weaken European unity when the continent emerges on the other side of this pandemic. The European Union, built on the principle of unrestricted transnational movement of people and goods, saw at least 19 of its member states close its borders, and France and Germany imposed limits on the export of crucial medical equipment, including to Italy, who is facing the most severe outbreak and suffering from shortages. One Italian told The Washington Post, “The sense of European solidarity is shaken when your neighbor refuses to export medical equipment.” [5] Some worry that if, in a time of crisis, the continent reverts back to its national infrastructure and governments to their nationalist (if understandable and even necessary) tendency to look out for its own citizens, European unity may be another victim of the coronavirus. Furthermore, the intra-EU borders may prove to be sticky, as the end of the crisis could be difficult to mark on a calendar.[6]
Political implications, intentionally created and unforeseen, of the coronavirus pandemic abound. The entire world finds itself in a period of tedious and frightening trial and error. While the intentional fear-mongering of Salvini and others like him may feel like par-for-the-course, the more institutional changes arising in how the EU operates could linger long after the crisis period is over, threatening its longstanding modus operandi and any sense of European solidarity they had managed to build.
[1] Margherita Stancati and Eric Sylvers, “Italy’s Coronavirus Death Toll Overtakes China’s,” The Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2020, accessed March 20, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/italys-virus-death-toll-on-the-cusp-of-overtaking-chinas-11584626731.
[2] Lorenzo Tondo, “Salvini Attacks Italy PM over Coronavirus and Links to Rescue Ship,” The Guardian, February 24, 2020, accessed March 19, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/24/salvini-attacks-italy-pm-over-coronavirus-and-links-to-rescue-ship.
[3] Tondo, “Salvini Attacks.”
[4] Lorenzo Tondo, “Matteo Salvini Trial for Kidnapping Authorised by Italian Senate,” The Guardian, February 12, 2020, accessed March 19, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/12/matteo-salvini-trial-for-kidnapping-authorised-by-italian-senate.
[5] Michael Birnbaum, “Europe Is Closing Borders amid Coronavirus Outbreak. They May Be Hard to Reopen.,” The Washington Post, March 17, 2020, accessed March 19, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/europe-closing-borders-coronavirus/2020/03/17/131a6f56-67c8-11ea-b199-3a9799c54512_story.html.
[6] Birnbaum, “Europe Is Closing.”
