Geert Bourgeois: “Coronavirus crisis compels strategic forward thinking”

“The great COVID-19 crisis has shown that a number of our lives depend on protective and life-saving supplies from abroad, very often from China. It is unfortunately possible that crises will follow in which our supply lines are cut off for various reasons. We need to be able to produce crucial medical equipment and protective equipment such as masks, hand sanitiser, clothing and medication ourselves”, says member of the European Parliament Geert Bourgeois on doorbraak.be.

As quickly as the coronavirus spreads, so major social upheaval follows in its wake. First of all, many people are falling ill (some seriously), the most vulnerable succumb and this disaster places even our excellent public health system under tremendous pressure. Our heartfelt thanks go out to our outstanding health professionals and scientists. We must hope we have the resources to deal with the great influx of infected individuals. Additionally, the crisis has far-reaching economic consequences, which we can already see will result in a recession. Our social lives have also changed radically; lessons are suspended, social contacts reduced to a minimum, families are forced to rely on themselves and many of us are working remotely. All of this requires swift action in many different areas, by numerous private and public agents.

As well as inspiring a collective lust for life, the final defeat of the Black Death also led to increased government intervention. I would like to make a few preliminary observations on this subject.

Public health is rightfully the responsibility of the individual Member States, but a pandemic requires coordination. In accordance with the European Treaty, the Commission must promote such efforts. The past few days have shown that this can and should be handled much better. Best practices as to prevention, treatment and disinfection should be shared, of course. Additionally, citizens and entrepreneurs alike would benefit from some alignment on issues such as quarantine measures, (large) gatherings, businesses closing/staying open, social contact, nightlife, etc. This would serve to increase confidence in the EU and in our strong domestic market as well.

Our domestic market and the Schengen zone must remain intact. We cannot allow critical medical products to be blocked at internal borders. The Commission needs to act against this immediately in its role as guardian of the Union Treaties.

I am and always will be strongly in favour of free trade. Free, fair trade leads to prosperity; indeed, in Flanders, we owe one in three of our jobs to export. Trade brings people and communities together and creates stability across the world. However, we must continue to ensure fair and sustainable trade. That means imposing the EU’s high standards on our trading partners, state-of-the-art phytosanitary controls at our external borders and more environmentally friendly transport. I support the investment screening we have set up at the EU level to support the Union’s strategic businesses and infrastructure; I want the Union to bring a stop to dumping within our market and agree with Trade Commissioner Hogan’s proposal concerning prior certification of exports of strategic health equipment outside the Union during this crisis. “A Union that protects without protectionism”, in short.

However, this is not enough. The great COVID-19 crisis has shown that a number of our lives depend on protective and life-saving supplies from abroad, very often from China. It is unfortunately possible that crises will follow in which our supply lines are cut off for various reasons. We need to be able to produce crucial medical equipment and protective equipment such as masks, hand sanitiser, clothing and medication ourselves.

It is in the public interest to reshore such strategic production where indicated and to oblige businesses to maintain strategic reserves. Establishment of services for the common good is up to the Member States and their constituent states. This can mean charging one or more enterprises with duties for the common good; maintaining a certain overcapacity to ensure security of supply for instance. EU rules allow for the provision of state aid to achieve this.

We are currently spending hundreds of billions to save what we can. Let us also allocate the necessary funds to ensure that life-saving resources remain available to our citizens at all times.