On Monday 9 November, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, called for the future-proofing of the Team Europe concept beyond the Covid-19 crisis.
Team Europe was created to fight the pandemic and brings together EU institutions, including financial institutions and EU Member States.
This ‘Team Europe’ “means all of us: all the institutions plus the Member States. For me it should become the rule every time and everywhere”, explained Borrell in a speech to EU ambassadors around the world, explaining that if Team Europe was born from the pandemic, it has to stay after the pandemic. After all, according to the High Representative, Team Europe “represents a brand, a way to approach others and for the others to understand what Europe is all about. It is a complex setting where we try to act all together, because all together we are much more powerful and effective.”
Beyond this Team Europe, Mr Borrell called for action as “one EU”. “Away from the divisions of the European Commission, the Council, the European External Action Service, we need to think and act as a single body”, he insisted. “We have the European Union, now we have to act as a united Europe”, he argued, pointing to the need for “deep and systematic” cooperation in order to achieve results.
Turning to the Covid-19 pandemic, the High Representative explained that the EU’s actions in the coming weeks and months would determine “our reputation and our international influence”. He warned that not only the world, but also Europeans, needed a more “engaged European Union, able to act”, which is ready to participate in the big changes that the world will be facing. According to him, the EU’s reputation is on the line. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)