Yesterday, for the first time in its history a long-distance vote was introduced in the European Parliament with 97 percent of MEPs responding. Of the 37 billion EUR in assistance to Member States Croatia will receive 1.6 billion EUR.
"The EU is still looking for a way to help Member States, and it is certain that it will have to resort to much larger funds. The topic of issuing 750 billion EUR in corona bonds has been raised, as well as the 500 billion EUR in the European Stabilization Mechanism. The Member States however do not agree who will take responsibility for this type of financing", said Picula. He believes criticism at the expense of the most powerful Member States for not responding in a solitarily enough manner is justified.
"I believe the decision to authorize essential medical equipment was not a good move. It is now evident how painful the lack of sufficient resources due to global production relocation is for the EU. Solidarity failed in this initial phase", Picula concluded.
He added that many things will have to change because it is now evident how wrong it was to unquestioningly follow monetization of public services. It is clear it cannot be left to market only.
"The multilateral may be the answer. This is a good opportunity to globalize solidarity in order to find solutions not only to this but also to the crises that will follow. It is also certain that many regimes will be delegitimized depending on their response to this crisis”, Picula said.
He also referred to the measures taken by the Croatian Government, primarily mobile phone monitoring. "The measures are quite justifiably criticized. There is a lot to be clarify before implemented. Institutions are not built on authoritarianism, and there must be democratic controls", Picula said concluding that this measure encroaches on personal rights and freedoms.
