Let’s imagine a stronger EUROPE

WE EUROPEANS have been organized in hundreds of Human societies for over 90,000 years now and have since the 1950s, in the last 70 years, been building the EEC, the European Economic Community, and now the EU, strong of some 545 millions of citizens, in association with Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, before the chaotic BREXIT, chosen by a majority of ill-informed Brits, induced to do so by self-served politicians, who have not told them all the truth and the consequences for them of Exiting the European Union or EU. 

The recent crisis with the Coronavirus (over 450,000 European victims so far) has shown a number of points

• European scientists are brilliant but they do find more and reach a lot more together, when working in European teams.

• European engineers and technicians have brilliantly succeeded in building the Concorde planes, the AIRBUS family of planes and TGV trains covering over 33,000 kilometers of European train routes at High Speed, such as 200 to 390 kmph, as well as a growing number of innovative start-ups in many European countries, with deployment Europa wide or at least in half a dozen major markets within years.

• European doctors and medical care systems are NOT working closely enough together and have therefore performed very differently since last pandemic occurred from 27th December 2019, though.. China was still not telling the world until much too late…

• European governments and Länder (Germany) have chosen very different solutions and routes to fight the virus, with some of the best performing EU members helping their neighbours (such as France, who is warmly thanking Germany, Austria and Luxembourg for their support) better welcome and care for the worse hit regions and hospitals.

• European researchers are currently active in testing some 9 different vaccines on animals or Humans since March 14th, 2020, but are mostly doing so on national bases, even if many EU doctors are crossing boarders and are also welcoming non-EU doctors in their hospitals. And such doctors and nurses do contribute a lot to the European Health services.

• European citizen initiatives, small companies, local doctors, large companies and NGOs or volunteers have often been far more reactive, outperforming largely national politicians or governments and have succeeded in many brilliant developments and outcomes, such as the recent mask solutions and ventilators’ solutions based on existing tools reinvented (such as Decathlon diving materials reused for the Hospitals) or improved by various groups in Italy, France, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland, Czechia, Greece, Lithuania, Austria and so on.

Now EUROPE, mother of the modern times democracies such as in Ancient Greece cities of Sparta and Athens, has a number of obvious DUTIES, to get out of 2020 pandemic and Coronavirus crisis and economic downturn

• TEST massively all its 270m working forces to help them get back to work safely and let at least growing numbers of 75m then 150m then 225m of them get back to open work and be able to travel all through Europe safely, without transmitting the virus.

• TEST massively all 7m citizens who are currently Residents in nursing Homes to save them from the virus and isolate and cure the infected ones.

• impose MASKS and gloves in all public transportation all through Europe.

• Generalize the successful Hydroxychloroquine + Azistromycine curing protocol (at a very low cost) tested with success on 3,000 patients by world-famous infectiologist Didier Raoult and his teams from IMU Marseille, as long as the vaccines will not be available (Senegal doctors who are following this protocol are having one of the lowest if not the lowest number of victims per million inhabitants in Africa)

• favor successful European vaccines so as to let them become available shortly in millions, with the support of the European Union Council as with the backing of European Central Bank (ECB)

• Create ‘vaccinated or immune’ European passports and Health cards to permit European citizens to travel and work more broadly within Europe and abroad, when external countries will allow it 

• get all the kids and students back to SCHOOLS and Universities or ‘Grandes Écoles’ by mid-June or the end of June, postponing vacations for one month or 6 weeks

• re-open all shops and companies, starting with the smallest ones with the simple rules already acted in many countries, with again masks made compulsory everywhere

• re-open all open-air markets, in case some would have been closed, as in France

• reopen train lines, plane links with a growing set of schedules, respecting the above rules of reusable masks for the Earth, reusable gloves, gels, respect of 2m distances..

• generalize frontal thermometers in all public places as well as thermal cameras in all stations, airports, harbours, boarders, public offices, shopping malls, and so on

• generalize software tracking tools all over Europe, to find out quickly all those who might have been infected while meeting infected individuals, to isolate and cure

• reopen tourism within Europe with strict rules as mentioned above and groups limited to 50 to 150 with growing air ventilation and air cleaning systems

• Grow massively SOLIDARITY between European countries to help save millions of SOHOs and small and medium-size companies and their employees’ jobs.

• reopen open-air theatres, cinemas, festivals, with same above measures of compulsory masks & gloves, gel distributors in all entrance halls, with a growing number of attendees, starting with 20, 50, 100, 250, 500, and so on… And re-open closed theaters & cinemas later on, with public seated with compulsory masks and gloves and seated with respect of distances…

• reopen beaches with compulsory masks for all and respect of 2-meter distances, except when swimming

• Support African Health systems to help them build hospitals, decrease public corruption by 90%, and improve national Health security systems in the 54 African countries with local dispensaries created and supported by the EU at minimal cost. Double number of African doctors trained. Better small efficient Units than big expensive ones.

• Accelerate CO2 reductions everywhere in Europe with Paris Agreement Objectives to be exceeded and CO2 emissions to be reduced 60% by 2030 and 90% by 2040 

• Grow Urban Forests and Agroforestry solutions by +100% by 2,028 and +300% by 2,040, planting millions of Trees and plants around buildings, streets, houses and housing and shopping areas.

• Generalize electric and Hydrogen-powered trucks and buses and forbid oil-powered trucks & buses by 2,035.

• Stop Coal mines and coal powered thermal stations by 2,025. Treble solar, wind and biomass energy outputs. Grow by +50% Hydro-electricity and Marine electricity solutions

• Forbid 100% of wild-life animal trade, such as elephant, rhinoceros, pangolin, bats and so on in Europe and lobbying for a worldwide ban on such damaging trades, both for biodiversity dangers and for biological dangers of viruses migrating from animals to Humans, as seen in the current worldwide pandemic, started in world number 1 importing country in wild life and animals = China.

This article is opened to your improvement ideas and will be reviewed at least once a semester until the end of 2021.

François P. VALLET, ESCP EUROPE Business Alumni, trained in Paris, Oxford and Berlin, with students originating from 27 European countries.