Covid’s toxic divides could shape Europe for years, study says
7472 Mins Read
Radically different experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic have created toxic geographical, generational and societal divides across Europe that could shape the continent’s politics for years to come, according to a study.
Research by the European Council on Foreign Relations based on polling in 12 EU states shows a “tale of two pandemics and two Europes”, with the past 18 months taking a vastly different toll on regions, age groups and individuals in the bloc.
“Europe is today a continent of split experiences: stark divides have emerged that could be as serious as those of the eurozone debt crisis and the 2015 migration crisis,” said Mark Leonard, the director and co-founder of the ECFR and a co-author of the report.
About 54% of Europeans said they had not been seriously affected by the pandemic, majorities in southern and eastern Europe reported significant personal challenges – while those in northern and western Europe largely viewed it as a “spectator sport”.
Fully 72% of respondents questioned in Denmark, 65% in Germany, 64% in France and 63% in the Netherlands said the coronavirus had not caused them, their family or friends serious illness, bereavement or economic distress over the past 18 months.
Those figures contrasted dramatically, however, with countries in eastern and southern Europe, where majorities in Hungary (65%), Spain (64%), Portugal (61%), Poland (61%), Bulgaria (59%) and Italy (51%) reported the opposite.
The research also revealed a stark generation gap over the impact of the pandemic, with almost two-thirds (64%) of respondents aged over 60 in the 12 countries saying they had experienced no personal repercussions, compared with 43% of under-30s.
There were outliers: most under-30s in two north-western countries, France and Denmark, said they had not suffered from the pandemic, while most over-60s in four eastern and southern ones – Spain, Portugal, Hungary and Poland – said they had.
Photo: A teenager receives a dose of a vaccine against COVID-19 at a hospital in Madrid, Spain. EPA-EFE/CHEMA MOYA
