On Europe

Now that everyone is talking about a "war" amid the coronavirus epidemic, it's time to remember what the European project meant after the last real war.

Europe has guaranteed peace and prosperity for more than half a century, eventually healing the wounds of the Cold War as well.

Its slowness, its fragmentation into national egos and its structural rigidity become more apparent during a crisis.

But at the same time the crisis shows how much worse things would be if each nation was alone against a health risk of this magnitude and the economic destruction it causes.

Europe may be inadequate at times. But we have nothing else.