The New European Geopolitics, Op-ed

The global system is living in the shadow of the Coronavirus pandemic, its worst crisis; new determinants and unprecedented constraints have begun to appear.

The pandemic has demonstrated that the global system is sick and selfish; the nation-state is in crisis, and the current and future stages have witnessed many changes from the foundations of this system to the priorities of the nation-state and the foundations of new social relation.

We believe that this system is racing against time to meet the challenges of the age, in light of three main axes, the first of which is strengthening the world's ability to resist infectious diseases, through developing scientific research mechanisms and investing in them; all understood that health, hospitals, doctors, and medicines are the future of millions of people.

In addition, any expected increase in global temperatures as a maximum of two degrees celsius, over the original percentage, will destroy the whole life.

Second, it is the relentless pursuit to address the damage that affected the global economy as a result of the outbreak of the epidemic, which humanity has never seen before. This system seeks to protect the principles of the liberal global order as the third field that should be focused on, and this is not an easy matter.

If we take the "European Union" (EU) as a vivid example for the components of this new world order,  we will understand the recent call of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, when she called on her European counterparts not to close the borders of their countries again in the midst of the second wave of the Coronavirus.

"For Germany, the central European country, it is important that the borders remain open, and to allow the economy to continue operating, in order to fight the pandemic together," she said.

In light of the major crises, countries think only of themselves, especially if they are facing a serious crisis like the Coronavirus that began to fill European hospitals with patients and In turn, their countries began to announce the imposition of a complete quarantine.

We also understand the European Union’s decision in recent days to set a budget of 220 million euros for the transfer of patients with COVID-19 from the most affected countries that suffer from a shortage of beds to other members states with empty beds; the European Commission President stressed the importance of "sharing accurate data" on the capacities of intensive care units in the member states.

The official called for strengthening the interconnection of applications used to track injuries in each country, and three of them have so far been linked to a system developed by Brussels.

Yet, the most important priority nowadays is the freedom of movement issue, which was disrupted in the spring with the emergence of the pandemic, and which the EU guards do not want to stop with the second wave, because of its economic, social, and even psychological repercussions on member states.

The European Union is a unitary intellectual project that was brewed in the minds and writings of prominent thinkers, wise scholars, legal scholars, and philosophers before it became a reality and a real political project with strong institutions that bring together heads of state, ministers, experts, and parliamentarians of nations.

Despite the differences among their countries in terms of the degree of economic and financial progress and the prevailing political and social philosophy, they were able together, through the wisdom of some of its members and the lofty unitary principles, to issue a unified European currency that replaced national currencies, and contributed to the gradual establishment of real economic unity, as well as the establishment of a unified internal market.

The EU was able to achieve many achievements thanks to the prevailing trust atmosphere among its member states, as well as the political, economic, and legislative factors, which made the European Union a political and legal system of a special character.

I am sure that the Europeans fear the repercussions of closing the borders among their countries more than ever, as the trust on which the EU is based will disappear, and all foundations that make joint action a fateful issue for all will collapse to make matters worse.

In the light of this pandemic, it is difficult for the two major countries in the EU; I mean Germany and France, which are taking the control of the EU, to carry out their pioneering tasks and fix what is going wrong; because this time, the crisis has to do with people's lives and health; a pandemic which destroys everything without waiting for a visa to pass from one house to another, from one city to another, and from one town to another…