Newsroom

When legal anti-racism becomes seen as racist, something has gone horribly wrong.

No other political institution in history has been built and forged as much in emergencies as the EU. But what happens when the EU itself becomes a crisis?

New Zealand fought hard to beat the virus and now it deserves to seize an economic opportunity. Safely and selectively, the border can be re-opened to anyone prepared to undergo a strict quarantine – whether they are football players, investors or students.

If at some point this crisis is no longer acute, then the Franco-German axis will feature only in history books – and the EU will not be able to find a replacement for it anytime soon.

No matter how much fiscal support he will receive, it will do nothing to reverse Italy’s productivity trajectory. And for as long as Italy remains part of the Eurozone, none of the above issues can be resolved.

In the Western Roman Empire’s case, it was the barbarian soldier Odoacer who finished off the ruins of a once-proud Empire. In the EU’s case, the coronavirus seems on track to achieve the same result.

Not even Friedman could have foreseen a systemic, multi-layered crisis as the one we are witnessing today. And though he predicted the euro’s eventual failure, he did not tell us what would happen afterwards. We still do not know the answer to that. But we will soon find out. Brace yourself.

If Italy fails – and there is a temptation to write ‘When’ instead of ‘If’ – it will be a catastrophe not just for Italy. It will be the end of the Euro as Europe’s currency. It will be the return of the euro crisis on steroids.