In the first two weeks after the pandemic hit the EU, Member States started acting unilaterally on their own and this is not what the EU is all about. As Socialists & Democrats in the European Parliament, we insisted that this had to change. We wanted European action. As Vice-President of the S&D, I am part of a Task Force that is proposing EU measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic. The European Commission, with the approval of the European Parliament. started proposing and approving drastic measures for the whole of the EU.
However, in a crisis like this there is never enough. The reality is that there is so much that the EU can do, but for that to happen all 27 EU leaders have to agree to it. The European Commission is so far seemingly maximizing the tools it has to help Member States but we need different rules for exceptional circumstances. The rules we applied so far will not help us even start to address the current situation.
As a whole, the EU is acting quicker than it did during the 2008 financial crisis, most likely because the lessons learnt during the time should not be ignored this time round. If we want to avoid collapse and repeated crises, we must learn from the 2008 crisis, when the EU saved the economy but did not transform it in a way to prevent subsequent crises.
This time round fiscal rules have been relaxed to provide Member States with flexibility whilst billions of euros have been available for crisis response. But we want more flexibility. We will continue insisting for more flexibility in the use of EU funds so that Member States have the tools available to help the most vulnerable. As S&D we are insisting that the European Investment Bank provides bank guarantees to SMEs and direct credit to companies.
Lack of agreement between all 27 EU Member States fuels the perception that not enough is being done. When the EU’s finance ministers could not agree on a €500 billion package of measure to combat the economic fallout, people started questioning why there is this lack of solidarity in a moment of crisis like this. This package has been agreed upon after long debates and discussions and it still has to be agreed by the Presidents and Prime Ministers.
I will never stop insisting about the need for solidarity. We are in the EU together, and it is only if we act as one that we can address the COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath. I was warning within my political group and beyond that we need to counter-act a North-South divide that I started perceiving during this pandemic. Social issues and making sure that we have a Joint Public Procurement mechanism to ensure that no small country like Malta is left behind in having the necessary medical equipment, are things that I will continue pushing for. I’m glad that my political group is foursquarely behind these measures.
This is what we as Social Democrats will continue fighting for.
Miriam Dalli is vice-president of the Socialists & Democrats Group in the European Parliament & head of the Maltese PL delegation
