Manifesto
Europe, a Patient
8 April 2020
To:
the President of the European Parliament David Sassoli
the President of the European Council Charles Michel
the President of the European Commission Ursula van der Leyen
and all politicians of good will
Due to the sheer magnitude of the crisis brought about by COVID-19, the solutions adopted to combat it will determine the future of liberal democracy, the economy and European integration.
Therefore, we call on you to take political responsibility and to take the initiative. This is what was patently lacking in the EU response to the 2008 financial crisis—a mistake whose grave consequences we are still suffering.
We call on you to allocate financial resources which will provide:
- workers: with a real possibility to earn their own living during the quarantine and the crisis,
- enterprises: with a chance to survive the economic crisis,
- public services (healthcare in particular): with precipitous funding,
- all of us: with effective research on COVID-19 medication and on a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.
It is not only thousands of Europeans infected with the coronavirus that need to be saved today. There is another patient at risk of death—European values, such as the recognition of the intrinsic value of human life, of democracy, of solidarity, of community, of the dignity of work and of the worker.
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