France and Germany have long been considered to be the core of the dynamic of integration and federalization within the European Union. However, according to Yanis Varoufakis, the reaction of Berlin and Paris to the coronavirus pandemic will contribute to the long-term dissolution of the EU. In an interview with LBC, the former Greek Minister for Economic Affairs said: “The EU has not taken into account the dynamic process of disintegration that has started.
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“I don’t think there will be another exit, I don’t think there will be a departure from Italy or Greece. I don’t think that’s going to happen.
“The greatest threat to the European Union is the slow deconstruction underground. We see it already.
“France and Germany, their economies are moving in opposite directions. The German economy is recovering very quickly from the pandemic, but not the French.
“The north and the south will become different continents, the east and the west.”
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He added: “And you already have a renationalization of many policies in the context of the European Union, which is getting further and further removed from any federation.”
Mr Varoufakis suggested that the changes between Member States have raised concerns among EU leaders that the Union is becoming “irrelevant”.
He continued, “I remember being in Moscow a few years ago and walking down the street and seeing a building that said ‘Commonwealth of Independent States’.
“And I remembered that the CIS was the successor to the Soviet Union when Gorbachev was overthrown. You created the CEI.
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“This has a building, it exists, it has never been dismantled. The European Union’s greatest fear is that it will become unnecessary. “
EU Member States have already seen major disparities due to the coronavirus pandemic, and members are starting to deviate from common values.
Hungary and Poland have increasingly quarreled with the European Commission over pursuing national policies that call into question the requirements of the EU rule of law.
Italy has repeatedly put the bloc on lockdown with its growing deficit and Brussels’ calls for pension and infrastructure reform to limit the impact of rising spending on the already inflated debt of the third largest Union economy.
Discussions over the Coronavirus Recovery Fund last year threatened to spark further divisions in the bloc as northern and southern states swapped beards for distribution plans.
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And France has already been warned that the changing of the guard, which was due to take place in Germany in September, could cause its president to struggle to stay relevant.
Professor Simon Bulmer has suggested that anyone who succeeds Chancellor Angela Merkel on resigning must find common ground with Emmanuel Macron because of different views on the bloc’s future.
Professor Bulmer said, “The real problem is how far [Ms Merkel’s] Successor can build relationships with France, as Franco-German relations have been a bit tense lately.
“With the exception of the establishment of the European Reconstruction Fund to deal with the economic consequences.
“We must therefore not forget how these constellations of political leaders develop in the European Union of 27.
“Often it is a question of personality.”
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“TV fan. Passionate pop culture fanatic. Future teen idol. Troublemaker. Incurable Creator. “
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