(CN) – Facing an even bigger wave of death and sickness, Europe shut itself in on Wednesday and banned most travel into the European Union in a desperate bid to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus and seal itself off from more contagion.
The unprecedented closing of the EU's external borders for 30 days was agreed upon by state leaders on Tuesday evening. Non-EU citizens already were being turned back at airports and borders by Wednesday morning.
Simultaneously, Europe is taking emergency steps to prop up economies veering dangerously into a deep recession as nonessential businesses – everything from hairdressers to restaurants – are forced to close. Huge economic stimulus packages are being introduced across Europe, mostly to aid businesses but also workers. Economists warn the outbreak will lead to a string of bankruptcies, job losses and declining production. On Wednesday, the United Nations' International Labor Organization said between 5.3 million and 24.7 million jobs worldwide may be lost due to the global pandemic.
Europe is using war-time language and martial-law-like measures to fight the virus, known as COVID-19, and quell the continent's natural tendency to congregate in cafes, restaurants and churches and greet one another with kisses and embraces.
In the hardest-hit places, police are patrolling towns and cities to enforce lockdowns and they're handing out fines for people violating curfews and restrictions on movement. In Italy, where the most draconian measures are in place, authorities said they'd issued more than 8,000 fines in the past day for scofflaws, most of whom were out and about without a good reason.
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a televised address that “we are at war.” His call to action is being echoed by other European leaders.
“I know that what I'm asking of you is unprecedented,” Macron said. “But the circumstances demand it. We are at war. Certainly in a health care war. We are not fighting an army, nor are we fighting another nation. But the enemy is here, elusive, it progresses. It thus requires a call to arms.”
The problem is many feel that Europe is entering this war unprepared after years of budget cuts to health care as governments were forced to reduce their public debt following the 2008 financial collapse and the Great Recession.
“I have heard from nurses — including those in the private sector — who say they go into war without weapons. Who go to work with knots in their stomachs,” Sabrina Ali Benali, an emergency medical doctor in France, told Euronews. She warned that there is a shortage of protective gear for medical staff who face being called upon to treat a mass of patients.
The crisis is also shaking confidence in the EU and its institutions and threatens to make deep-seated conflicts between richer and poorer countries in the bloc even more bitter. Already a sense that Italy has been abandoned by its European neighbors is taking root, and the closing of borders, hoarding of domestic supplies and an unwillingness to bail out bankrupt countries may test the spirit of camaraderie, solidarity and unity that is supposed to underwrite the EU — a unique multinational project to bring lasting peace between once-warring nations. In essence, though, the EU is more about trade and commerce and not designed to deal with an emergency of this scale.