At the start of every crisis, people say Europe is finished. In some cases, this results from uncertainty. In others, it is a political ploy. But ultimately, it has always been the case so far that everything would have turned out far worse without Europe.

All of the initial emergency measures were at the local and national level. On a plane, they say: “Please put on your own mask before assisting others.” But for a long time now, we have been in this second phase where we are helping each other. Within a period of days, we agreed on something that took us months to achieve during the financial crisis, namely extraordinarily far-reaching financial instruments based on solidarity. We are working together to repatriate travellers from all over the world. Germany has already taken around 3500 people from other EU countries on its flights. Furthermore, we have flown over 100 patients out of Italy and France to treat them in hospitals here in Germany. That is by no means enough, but it shows how everyone has understood that we need European answers and solidarity.

We cannot allow ourselves to be fooled by those who want to divide Europe. This game is certainly not new, but never before has it been more inappropriate or more dangerous. The only way we can succeed in slowing down the spread is through reliable and valid information.