Last year wasn’t a good year for most people. Lockdowns ruined businesses, and led many people to lose their jobs. Simultaneously a surprising large portion of the economy kept running, largely due to government support. However, they weren’t able to protect everything. Tourism got destroyed. Southern European economies, like Spain, rely heavily on tourism. No surprise that Spain’s economy, its GDP, shrank with 12.8% in 2020. The number isn’t final yet, but is an estimate from November 2020, meaning that despite a possible correction, it won’t be far off.

The EU has the Eurozone as an internal block, but not the whole EU belongs to the Eurozone. The economic demise of Europe will pull the Eurozone closely together at a rapid pace, while the non-Euro countries are left behind. Europe moves at a different speed, a different pace. It looks in two differenct directions.

On the 16th of July 2019 the European Union selected its new highest functions. We use the word ‘selected’, as opposed to ‘elected’. There is not much democracy involved when a few influential bureaucrats bicker in backrooms until they can find a person nobody is strongly opposed to. Even the pope has a higher claim to democracy, since the entire college of cardinals is allowed to vote.