Coronavirus Widens Europe’s North-South Economic Divide

I strongly recommend you follow the link below and read the material from the Wall Street Journal, about the economic divide between the far wealthier North and the far poorer South of Europe.

I am in Lisbon, Portugal, in complete lockdown, have no help or assistance of any sort, even though I speak the language to some level, hard to understand what government departments that I need to contact about what subject, for locals that understand its ways its manageable.

As mentioned in the original article:

“Germany’s economy is expected to bounce back better than southern Europe’s. German gross domestic product is expected to be 2.5% smaller in the last quarter of 2021 than it was in the same period last year, but Italy’s GDP is expected to be 9.2% lower and Spain’s 7.7% lower, according to research by Morgan Stanley published on Monday. Germany’s unemployment rate is expected to average 3.5% next year, while Italy’s jobless rate will average 13% next year and Spain’s 17%, the report said.

“We see the crisis as a big opportunity and are preparing systematically for the time after corona,” said Klaus Fischer, owner of Fischer Group, a manufacturer of fastening products for the construction and auto industries based near Germany’s Black Forest.”

And…

“Southern Europe’s weaker banking system could amplify its downturn. Many banks are still wrestling with a large pile of nonperforming loans from the last financial crisis and will therefore struggle to finance an economic recovery, according to the International Monetary Fund.”

The North of Europe is seeing opportunities, the South of Europe, May God Help Us, the next couple of years are going to be frightening for us in the South to survive…

Typically rents in Lisbon were very expensive, from a tiny room to a tiny flat anywhere near the heart of the city, rents were exorbitant.

With this coronavirus “new world” most will be unemployed, how will anyone carry on paying these inflated prices? Impossible, the whole market will have to re-adjust at some point, else most flats would be empty, with most people living outdoors.

Additionally, countries in the South of Europe are extremely dependent on tourism, from people working in cafes, restaurants, clubs, taxis, ubers, farmers selling produce to the restaurants, etc., this serious loss of income will have serious consequences. In a city like Lisbon where normally would be hard to find an available room/hotel, now near impossible to see any tourists filling those spaces possibly for years to come.

What Europe should have done with its creation wasnt to benefit the rich and the 2 main power houses of Europe, instead of moving manufacturing outside our Europe, helping to develop the South to provide a highly trained work force, still at much cheaper rates than their counterparts in the North of Europe.

Instead the South lost much of its own manufacturing and in doing so remaining “slaves” to tourism, provided by its great food, people in best weather.

If there was a divide between the North-South of Europe in the past, I think it will get a lot clearer how wide it is in the next decade or so, where the 2 sides may grow so far apart, where one side has a great life and doesnt see any problem, its all about opportunities, whilst the poor-cousins may not even know how to eat that day.

We’ll see what Europe stands for in the manner that it truly helps all of us, including the South of Europe.

ORIGINAL LINK FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-widens-europes-north-south-economic-divide-11588069310

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