Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1226904
16 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 29 MARCH 2020 OPINION Elena Grech Dr Elena Grech is Head of the European Commission Representation in Malta CRISES are frequently indiscriminate in the way they come upon us and affect us. Whilst some can be foreseen and tackled with ap- propriate preparations and reparatory meas- ures, others take us completely by surprise and threaten to overwhelm us, as is the case of this epochal pandemic we are currently trying to tackle. The sheer dimension of this situation thus means that this is not the time for individualism, but the moment where 'we' becomes more important than 'I'. We are all in this together: an epic health crisis that calls for unity and common solu- tions in order to stem, as rapidly as possible, the spread of this deadly, invisible enemy that has changed our lifestyles overnight. Commission President von der Leyen put this perfectly in her speech at the European Parliament last Thursday. In her intervention on the European coordinated response to the COVID-19 outbreak, she remarked that when Europe really needed to be there for each other, too many initially looked out for themselves, due to the differing situations in each country. The situation precipitated rap- idly throughout Europe and Member States started feeling the consequences of their own uncoordinated actions. This is why, over the last few weeks, the European Union has taken exceptional and extraordinary measures to coordinate and enable the strategies and in- itiatives required. The scale of the outbreak, and the bottle- necks that ensued with regard to the delivery of crucial supplies and equipment as states closed their borders, meant that the EU had to act fast. It is therefore creating the first ev- er European stockpile of medical equipment, such as ventilators, masks and lab supplies, with the Commission financing 90% of the costs through RescEU. This is also why sever- al joint procurements with Member States – 25 participating – were launched for the pur- chase of testing kits, ventilators and protective equipment. Their demands for masks, gloves, goggles, face-shields have been matched by the producers, and the first deliveries should start in the coming weeks. At the same time, because knowledge saves lives in a pandemic, the Commission has set up a European team of scientific experts to help come up with coordinated measures that all can follow. We want to help everyone help themselves, and continue stepping up our actions: European citizens and the world are watching us, and we will stop at nothing to save lives, even in this unprecedented sit- uation where our healthcare professionals, who are putting so much at risk on the front- line, and who are amongst the best in the world, are stretched to breaking point by the extent of the pandemic. In the words of Pres- ident Von der Leyen, Europe owes you all a debt of gratitude. Underpinning these actions is our fully functioning Single Market. Europe has en- sured that essential freight transport for crit- ical merchandise and food supplies can pass through 'green lanes' across all the Union's borders, in order to ensure minimal delays and guarantee provisions and continuity of essential supplies for our citizens. The In- ternal Market is already functioning better, and this goes beyond trade and commerce, but can also be witnessed in the solidarity be- tween countries treating and healing patients across borders – Italian patients from Berga- mo were amongst the first to be transferred to the German University hospital in Leipzig. The EU Emergency Response Coordination Centre is also working 24/7 to support the repatriation flights for EU citizens stranded abroad because of the coronavirus outbreak. Member States will always be on the front- line: even here in Malta, we witness daily the dedication of our health workers and author- ities who are guiding us through the unchart- ed territory caused by the pandemic's rapid spread. The European Commission keeps on playing a key coordination role and issues recommendations for a common course of action in many areas, including public health, transport, border controls, internal market and trade. An unprecedented crisis thus calls for un- precedented measures. The Commission has also relaxed State Aid rules in order to allow Member States to manage their finances ac- cordingly to cater for the emergency back home, which has impacted employment and the general economy for the short to medium term. Beyond this new flexibility, the Com- mission has also proposed a Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative providing €37 billion of investment under cohesion poli- cy to address the consequences of the crisis. With the proposed amendment to the EU Solidarity Fund, that Fund can also be used for public health emergency situations such as the COVID-19 outbreak. All hands are on deck. This week's Euro- pean Council meeting has also set its main priorities for the period which include limit- ing the spread of the virus, providing medical equipment and promoting research (includ- ing into a vaccine) and tackling the inevitable socio-economic consequences of this pan- demic. This is really the time for unity, notwith- standing any initial hiccups at the start of such an unprecedented challenge. I'll once again quote President von der Ley- en who summarised the spirit of this con- certed action when closing last Thursday's speech to the Parliament Plenary: history is now looking at us. Let us do the right thing together – with one big heart, rather than 27 small ones. FOLLOWING the COVID-19 crisis things will not be the same as before. People are asking themselves when we are going back to normality, but I be- lieve what we will be witnessing would be a "new normality" different from what we were accustomed to. I am say- ing this because I believe this crisis and its aftermath can offer us the oppor- tunity to actually implement chang- es that have long been pending in our own economic model – the same economic model that led to climate change and increased air pollution. The aftermath of this pandemic re- quires the political will to roll out a strong and immediate response. How- ever, this response should look at the long-term impact and not be based on- ly on what some policy makers might consider as quick wins. A lot has been said before the outbreak of COVID-19 about the European Green Deal. Some might think that environmental issues would now have to wait. I strongly dis- agree. There has never been a more ur- gent time to make sure that we invest in a new economic model that helps our planet rather than destroys it. The European Green Deal will be our opportunity to get out of the COVID-19 crisis. If we revert back to the same busi- ness model that got us into this crisis in the first place, we will experience more future shocks that risk outgrowing gov- ernments' and institutions' capacities to come up with the right response. The link between climate change and the spread of diseases has been outlined by scientists over the years. In a recent study by the IPCC under the auspices of the UN, the link between climate change and the spread of diseases was made very clear. It was also stated that global warming will increase the emergence of new viruses. The WHO also states that changes in infectious disease transmis- sion patterns are a likely major conse- quence of climate change. If we were se- riously to heed the warnings of scientists then we need to change the way we have been doing things for the past decades. Scientists have already declared that in the future humanity will not be defined by just one major emergency but by a number of different crises resulting from our failure to actually live in a sustaina- ble way. The coronavirus is a wake-up call warning us to stop pushing the planet's limits. It warns us that deforestation, loss of biodiversity and climate change ren- der pandemics more probable, increas- ing the probability of diseases that move from animals to humans as we have seen in this pandemic. So instead of simply reacting to a ca- tastrophe we can use science to project the economic models that can actually lower the threats of climate change, bi- odiversity loss and pandemics. Like COVID-19, climate change, the loss of biodiversity and financial col- lapse do not respect national or physical boundaries. These challenges can only be managed through collective global action that starts well before a challenge becomes a full-blown crisis. If there is one major lesson to be learnt from this pandemic, it is the need to ensure that money is invested where it really matters. It should not go into sub- sidising fossil fuels that do nothing but destroy our environment and ultimately our own health but into cleaner sourc- es of energy. Subsidies to fossil fuels can and should be completely eliminated. Money should go into local agriculture production that is free from pesticides and other toxicities. More importance should be invested into agriculture particularly in a country like Malta and where being self-sustaining is vital in moments like these. In the midst of a global public health emergency and an imminent econom- ic recession, the importance of the Eu- ropean Green Deal is even more pro- nounced. This should be the model that we work on as from now. This is the vision that aspires to protect people's wellbeing and their health from risks and environmental impacts whilst cre- ate a non-toxic environment, providing healthy food and protecting biodiversi- ty. Proper investment in this new way of doing things can create jobs and ensure economic growth. This is the way for- ward to future proof our societies. Either way, after the COVID-19 crisis will hopefully be over, money needs to be heavily invested to regenerate our economies and the only way forward is to change the economic model that we have adopted for the last decades and which did not look at the long-term im- pacts of destroying our natural habitat. Our people are resilient and entrepre- neurial and can adapt to change when they have to. This crisis showed us how society can transform itself in a very short time. If we learn from past mistakes we can create a future which is brighter than what we have been accustomed to. This is our opportunity to actually invest in resilient economies that can actually help our health and wellbeing. In it together Miriam Dalli Future-proofing our societies Miriam Dalli is a Labour MP (S&D)