Ansotte/European Commission
From left to right, the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, during the presentation of the Recovery Plan on 27 May; a U.S. aircraft Etienne International organizations are stepping up their efforts
to help in reconstruction and are looking for lessons learned that
will improve the security of all
UNITY
IS STRENGTH
COVID-19 has shaken our societies
with an intensity impossible to
imagine just a few months ago.
No one was ready for this, but
international organizations are
not only demonstrating their capacity for
joint action and the undeniable need for
multilateralism and solidarity, but also their
ability to analyse what has happened,
learn from experience and activate new
response mechanisms guaranteeing our
security and well-being. On 19 May, the
194 countries participating in the 73rd
Assembly of the World Health Organization
adopted an unprecedented resolution
sealing the commitment to intensify efforts
in the struggle for a vaccine that must
be “global and accessible to all” and
acknowledging the need for an “impartial,
independent and comprehensive”
evaluation to manage this crisis and
improve the United Nations’ capacity to
prevent and respond to future crises. For
its part, Europe has taken a qualitative
leap in the concept of solidarity and has
demonstrated the solidity of the European
project: in an unprecedented gesture,
the European Commission approved an
ambitious Recovery Plan on 27 May aiming
at mobilizing a total of 3.1 billion euros. For
the first time in its 60-year history, the EU
will transfer part of its resources in the form
of non-refundable grants to the countries
hardest hit by the crisis, Spain being one
of the main beneficiaries. Moreover, the
Ministers of Foreign Affairs held a virtual
meeting on 26 and 29 May, and agreed
to give a fresh impetus to the Conference
on the Future of Europe —scheduled for 9
May but cancelled due to the pandemic—
to define the role the Union can and should
play in the world, analyse deficiencies
and stimulate sectors such as health,
mobility, basic supplies and the use of
technologies.
16 Revista Española de Defensa August 2020