Closed borders due to a pandemic or food shortages due to a war: Europe’s citizens and companies should be better protected from these and other crises in the future. The EU Commission is now making far-reaching proposals for this.
Today (11 a.m.) the EU Commission is presenting new measures to deal with crises such as the corona pandemic or Russia’s war against Ukraine. According to a draft law, for example, it should be possible to make production specifications for companies in the future. EU states could also be required to create reserves of important goods. It is still unclear whether the proposed law will be presented in this form.
The project is also intended to prevent problems caused by the corona pandemic, such as traffic jams for kilometers due to closed borders and the separation of family members. On the economic side, functioning supply chains are one of the most important functions to be maintained in the future.
After the drafts became known, the head of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen, emphasized the need to broaden supply chains. But she also said: “I would very clearly refrain from making micro-regulations. That is not the job of the European Commission.”
Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton believes the economy is seeing the end of an era. The Frenchman recently announced that the longstanding belief in production processes tailored to tight timeframes, geographic specialization and long supply chains is outdated.
In politics and business, the echo is divided. Many support, better collusion and more elaborate contingency plans. The creation of an emergency tool is the right answer to the experiences during the Covid pandemic, it said.