In the 2008 crisis, large cracks also appeared in the European Union, but the richest countries in the north imposed their harsh doctrine on those in the south. The ceiling on government budgets, today in full swing, better reflects that victory than anything else.

In addition to the money, the EU’s cracks have also been seen in other positions. At the beginning of March, Germany banned the other EU countries from exporting their medical devices when the situation in Italy worsened and the situation in Spain worsened. Italy had to ask for help from China, Cuba and Venezuela.

Following this first torpedo, a group led by Italy, France and Spain wanted the EU to respond jointly to this crisis, either by sending Eurobonds by the EU, or by proposing alternative formulas for loans, i.e. aid, but without conditions. These countries were in the forefront of the ruthless measures that had been imposed on Greece.

They were not the only echoes of the long crisis of 2008. Vulture funds also began to fly with eyes on the Italian paw: since late February and mid-March, the Italian risk premium increased by over 60% (28 February, 170 and 17 March, 276).

In this situation, the Netherlands and Germany have already demonstrated from the outset that they were unfavourable to the extent of shared ownership and blocked the agreement until last Thursday. The states of Hegoalde have taken for granted the establishment of this unconditional fund, but this Saturday the Public Journal clearly recalls that both the Dutch finance minister, Wopke Hoekstra, and the main local newspapers consider that the Netherlands has hardly moved from their position. Of the EUR 554 billion that has been approved, a loan of EUR 240 billion will be ready shortly, but the rescue will be done through MEDE funds, that is, the same type of fund that was applied to Greece.

The difference is that if governments only use that money for the Covid-19 health crisis, they're not going to be given any conditions. But if they were to use it to revive the economy in any other area, more specific conditions would apply to them. The smell of troika of these conditions and mechanisms is very intense and several countries have already stated that they are not going to touch those funds in principle.

This is not the only condition, among other things, because it is the hardest thing that can be received from these EU funds, that the States will continue blindly to comply with the sacred ceiling spending rule, when, for example, in Italy and Spain, some 33,000 people have already died. Clearly, the most important thing is what remains for the rich and neoliberal EU; and how, at least for the time being, the other governments submit.

No Eurobonds

The EU Thursday agreement says that the use of other financial instruments is open to the future and that the Italian finance minister, Roberto Gualtieri, has used this expression to see the Eurobonds queue, but most experts think it is an impossible formula. According to the Public Journal, the Dutch Reference Minister, Wopke Hoekstra, also states clearly in his Twitter account: "We are and will be against Eurobonds. These, in the long term, will not help either Europe or the Netherlands.” And Germany's Prime Minister, Angela Merkel, also made her position clear on Thursday afternoon: “You know, in the current political situation of our union, I am not in favour of a joint issuance of debt, and that is why I reject Eurobonds.”

We do not know what the political situation of unity Merkel has declared, but it is clearly at one of the weakest moments of his life. There are not a few who think what the EU is doing in such a complicated situation if the richer states are not prepared for economic solidarity, when they have just left the UK, even in the Netherlands. This has been publicly expressed by Portugal’s Prime Minister Juan Costa, who has taken the lead in this thought and has clearly asked the Netherlands whether he “wants to stay in the EU”. Costa has also proved harder: When Dutch Minister Hoekstra asked the Commission to “investigate why some countries do not have enough budget to deal with the coronavirus,” the Portuguese considered the petition “repugnant”.

Banks more important than people

With words and agreements, contempt for the citizens who are seriously affected is once again apparent in the EU institutions. It should be recalled that, from the crisis of 2008 to the present day, the European Central Bank has dedicated hundreds of millions of euros to banks with a very low or zero interest. Even in the 2008 crisis it was incomprehensible how the ECB could put these amounts into the hands of banks and not of states, and now the same thing is happening. The EU’s main financial instrument continues to offer money to banks with an interest of between 0% and 0.25%, but the EU is not able to leave money on equal terms to its states, the citizens, when tens of thousands of people have died on the table.

In several areas it is pointed out that this time it should not behave like in 2008, but this first fight for the use of EU funds scatters dark lights into the future: The EU authorities want to continue to act in the same way and, for the time being, the Member States are acting in the same way. The influence of the coronavirus is profound, but also the shadow of Greece.