Will Coronavirus Unify Europe?

The economic effects of coronavirus could be huge—especially in Europe.

Italy is already Europe’s problem economy. By some measures, it is the fourth most indebted economy in the world. Now it’s being hammered by coronavirus. Hundreds have died. The entire country is locked down. In Lombardy and Veneto, only food shops, pharmacies and other essential services are open.

“As if deliberately, covid-19 has hit the eurozone just where it hurts most—Italy,” wrote Jeremy Warner in the Telegraph.

The International Monetary Fund’s former deputy director in Europe, Ashoka Mody, has warned that Italy will require $500 billion to $700 billion to get back on its feet. This completely dwarfs any of the previous EU bailouts.

Italy’s banks are struggling. Without this help, you could have a banking crisis that spreads throughout Europe and even the world.

Right now, Europe is stuck in an awkward halfway state on its way to being a superstate.

The states within America share a currency. There is various ways money flows throughout the different states. All the states pay money into one federal pot, for example, so if one state suffers, all the states share the pain and help them recover. The federal government oversees banks in all the states and promises to guarantee their funds in an emergency. This helps prevent a lot of crises.

Europe lacks that. The eurozone shares a currency, but there’s no federal pot of money and only a very weak federal government.

Coronavirus could change this. It could force Europe to finally put these nuts and bolts of a superstate into place.

Warner wrote:

The coronavirus may therefore be the crisis that finally brings about lasting solutions. Another doom loop would surely either force Italy out of the euro altogether, or more likely result in it agreeing the terms demanded for a properly functioning banking union.

Jean Monnet, one of the European Union’s founding fathers, wrote: “Europe will be forged in crises, and will be the sum of the solutions adopted for those crises.”

Former German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said in 2011, “[C]risis represents an opportunity. … Europe always moved forward in times of crisis. Sometimes you need a little pressure for certain decisions to be taken.”

Cornavirus could help provide that pressure.

We’ve long forecast the arrival of a 10-nation superstate in Europe. This power is described in biblical passages, such as Revelation 17. With a common currency, the eurozone is already a long way toward being that superstate. Crises like coronavirus could help get it the rest of the way.

You need to learn now about this European power, because it could be on the scene very soon. To to do so, read our Trends article “Why the Trumpet Watches Europe’s Ongoing Unification Project.”

Herbert W. Armstrong forecast this European power decades ago—even saying as far back as 1945 that Europe would come together in a “European union.”

That Trends article will take you through the scriptures that point to this superpower, and show the role that this power will have in world events and in your life.