The issue with slow and rational is the slow part. Usually that is no issue, but sometimes you have to act fast in order to not be caught with your pants down.
Our dependence on the US and the Russian threat are such a situation where we have to be able to act fast and decisively.
You are absolutely right, but when it came to COVID, the EU reacted very rapidly, in line with the USA or UK. So it’s a choice, not a structural problem. They just don’t think a rapid response is opportune.
I may be misremembering how the COVID response went, but I remember the EU not doing a whole lot in the early days of the pandemic. It was mostly national governments locking down and taking precautions within their own borders.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the EU. But it is times like these when I wished it was a little faster to respond to existential threats.
No, no, you remember the same that I do. But the early response to COVID would have been a national responsibility anyway, I believe.
What the EU did that was swift and decisive was to fork out huge amounts of cash to soften the financial blow, based on loans that the EU took on. It was the very first time the EU and ECB took on large debt, and instead of going through the infinitely slow process that financial decisions usually take, it was done quickly and without much thinking (so much so that nobody knew who and when was going to repay those loans).
The issue with slow and rational is the slow part. Usually that is no issue, but sometimes you have to act fast in order to not be caught with your pants down.
Our dependence on the US and the Russian threat are such a situation where we have to be able to act fast and decisively.
You are absolutely right, but when it came to COVID, the EU reacted very rapidly, in line with the USA or UK. So it’s a choice, not a structural problem. They just don’t think a rapid response is opportune.
I may be misremembering how the COVID response went, but I remember the EU not doing a whole lot in the early days of the pandemic. It was mostly national governments locking down and taking precautions within their own borders.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the EU. But it is times like these when I wished it was a little faster to respond to existential threats.
No, no, you remember the same that I do. But the early response to COVID would have been a national responsibility anyway, I believe.
What the EU did that was swift and decisive was to fork out huge amounts of cash to soften the financial blow, based on loans that the EU took on. It was the very first time the EU and ECB took on large debt, and instead of going through the infinitely slow process that financial decisions usually take, it was done quickly and without much thinking (so much so that nobody knew who and when was going to repay those loans).