Russia, China and Cuba's rapid reaction to coronavirus highlights European Union

In what several European political leaders have described as the greatest challenge for the European Union (EU) since World War II, the coronavirus pandemic has hit Spain and Italy very hard.  Thousands of messages of support on social networks have shown their solidarity with both southern European countries: “Tutto Andrá Bene” or in English “Everything will be alright”, are repeated in videos and photographs.

Italy was the first European country to suffer the consequences of the COVID-19 and the first to ask the European institutions for help.

In view of the slow response from Brussels to the calls for help from Rome, Russia, China and Cuba have taken a step forward to assist Italy, which already has just over 7,500 deaths and around 75,000 infections. This Tuesday, Russian military planes with aid for Italy arrived in Rome to quickly assist those affected and gave Vladimir Putin an important propaganda victory both in the Alpine country and abroad.

According to Reuters, diplomats and officials from the European Union and NATO consider that this aid is not so much generosity as a geopolitical gesture to reclaim Putin's power and extend his influence.

Italy is one of the countries where Euroscepticism is most pronounced and the slow response of Brussels before this serious crisis may have later consequences on the Italian citizenry in its opinion on the European community.

On 22nd March Russia announced the dispatch of one hundred military virologists to Italy, specialists in epidemics and a corps of nurses from three Russian military bases. According to the Russian Defence Ministry these specialists have taken part in the elimination of swine fever in Africa and also worked on the development of vaccines against Ebola and plague. With the label 'From Russia with love', planes and trucks carried giant stickers that linked the Italian and Russian flags in the shape of a heart.

Franco Frattini, former Italian foreign minister and representative of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation, in statements to the portal RT, accuses the EU of leaving Italy “practically alone”. “Frankly speaking, Brussels is not doing enough. At first Italy was practically alone against the virus. Many said it was all due to Italian habits, because Italians don't respect the rules. And suddenly they realised that all other countries are equally affected,” said Frattini.

These rapid moves by Moscow in the face of European and American inactivity have brought to mind a Cold War scenario in the search for a favourable discourse on Russia's actions in Italy. However, Russia denies that the aid is a sign of converging geopolitical interests. In an interview with the Italian daily Il Corriere della Sera, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said that “we should not be looking for new geopolitical scenarios, there is a country that needs help and other countries that are helping us. This is not a Cold War, it's a question of reality, or realpolitik, call it what you like”. According to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, 80% of the supplies sent by Russia were "useless" and only served for favourable propaganda towards Moscow.

Cuba has also sent a body of 52 doctors to Lombardy, the area most affected by COVID-19. This is the first time that a European country has used Cuban doctors to deal with a situation of such magnitude. They arrived at Rome's airport with the Cuban flag in order to help in the emergency management the country is experiencing. “Here they are, in Lombardy, our doctors and nurses. They come from Cuba, in solidarity and committed to doing good to the needy, without distinction. The doctors from Cuba come in support of the people of Italy to fight the coronavirus,” wrote the Cuban ambassador to Italy, José Carlos Rodríguez, on social networks. 

The Cuban Ministry of Health published a statement in which it stressed that “Cuban doctors have always been on the side of duty, where they have been needed, showing the humanism and solidarity that characterizes our people. In these difficult times, helping other countries is a way to fight the coronavirus from Cuba”.

China is also playing an important role in sending medical material, with the sending of several hundreds of thousands of protective masks, as well as several groups of Chinese doctors and researchers with experience in dealing with the health emergency, since they had already experienced it months before in their country.

China also announced the shipment of a batch of medical supplies from the Asian country to Spain and Italy with a shipment of 1.8 million masks and 100,000 reagents.

Criticism of Brussels has not been long in coming. The slowness in responding and then sending aid to the most affected countries has led to the question of where the European Union is. The President of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, hoped on Wednesday that the coronavirus health protection equipment, the purchase of which is still being negotiated through an EU public tender, will be available in Spanish hospitals within two weeks.

The contracts for this equipment “must now be signed quickly and in two weeks the masks, gloves, gowns and goggles will be in your hospitals,” said the President.

In a crisis where time is pressing and every day the number of infections and deaths increases, on Thursday Spain had 56,188 diagnosed cases and 4,089 deaths, so a fortnight seems like an eternity.

The heads of state and government have held several summits by videoconference in which they have tried to resolve the differences they maintain regarding the economic response that should be given to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus.

Although the EU could be accused of being slow, the response to COVID-19 is being more at the level of nations than at the European level. The EC has left each state to act independently, which initially made coordination between member states impossible. This was the case with France and Germany, denying aid of medical material to Italy, prohibiting companies from exporting this material to other European countries. Although weeks later, both countries have donated an important medical supply to Rome.

The Commission announced a supply of medical material for the most affected countries such as ventilators, masks and diagnostic tests, in addition to the activation of 37 billion euros of unspent structural funds to support the health sector, as well as the allocation of funds from the Horizon 2020 programme to develop a vaccine.

For its part, the European Central Bank (ECB) has announced unprecedented measures such as the activation of the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP), which allocates 750 billion euros to buy public and private debt, without concessions and for as long as necessary and at least until the end of the year.

The two strategies on the table in the Eurogroup negotiations are making it more difficult to reach consensus on a joint response. The less affected countries of the North, with Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Finland at the head, are asking to wait for more details on the economic consequences before designing a subsequent recovery, while the more affected countries of the South, such as Spain, Italy and France, are advocating acting with all possible means. We can only wait for a joint decision by the 27.