"It is true that at the very beginning of the crisis, some member states only thought of their own problems and that was not desirable," acknowledges Ursula Von Der Leyen. Invited to the morning of Europe 1, Friday morning, the President of the European Commission admitted a lack of European solidarity at the start of the coronavirus crisis, including "the frustration" that may have been felt by Europeans.
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"Many signs of solidarity are emerging"
But she assured that, since then, everything had been done for the 27 states to go hand in hand. "We have worked hard to change these mentalities," she insisted, recalling certain measures taken at the start of the epidemic such as closing the borders or banning the export, especially of medical equipment. "We fought this measure all together and today it has disappeared. We are all collaborating together and we see many signs of solidarity that are taking place: patients transferred to border countries or medical equipment which is more widely shared ", she explains.
According to Ursula Von Der Leyen, Europe could even "consider joint group purchases because 27 member states have more purchasing power than each state taken individually, we will have more strike force", she summarizes, before adding: "Things are improving and we are starting to understand better that if we want to fight this virus we have to do it together".
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"An economic response"
"In any case, in the last four weeks, things have improved significantly. We have been successful thanks to our collaboration in finding a vaccine, for example, the only cure for this virus. And then we see a lot of solidarity coming in place, notably on the repatriation front of our fellow citizens. We coordinate our actions, we all take measures together which help us to foresee how to leave, when it will end when the return to normality comes ... ", adds she still.
Finally, the President of the European Commission ensures that Europe is trying to put in place "an economic response, a powerful response". "Of course, this is a very difficult battle, but we are fighting it together," she concluded.