The shackled democracy

It is amazing how things on the COVID-19 have changed.we all got used to social distancing and wearing face masks, meeting only in small groups add working from home. But some of the more recent restrictions imposed by western European governments could be quite worrying, weren’t it for the necessity of preventing do virus from spreading further.

During the current lockdown in the United Kingdom, as already during the previous one which lasted from the beginning of November until early December, people were barred from leaving the country unless they were travelling on business. The French and Spaniards in some provinces are not allowed to travel outside the region or even the towns they live in and nightly curfews apply. And even Germany went into a nationwide lockdown lasting from 16 December until 10 January, with all non-essential shops as well as bars and restaurants staying closed.

Hungary, run by a populist government, has completely closed its borders to foreign nationals and its government employees are not allowed to travel abroad. Hungarians of my generation and older will no doubt reminisce about life 40+ years ago. Mind you, at least then foreign nationals were allowed to enter Hungary – and leave again.

Somehow this smacks of procedures akin to those of Communist run Eastern Europe up to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Authorities restrict peoples’ movements, this time admittedly for a valid reason, and impose other constraints such as quarantines. I am sure there are a number of politicians who quite relish their newfound powers. And potentially financially lucrative it can be too: since 15 December travellers who arrive in England still have to quarantine, but are offered the option to take a Covid test, the results of which will be available within 24 to 48 hours, and, if the test result is negative, will be able to end their quarantine early. The test, run by private contractors, costs between £65 and £120. A tidy sum for a family of four.

The United Kingdom faces the added complication of Brexit: if the island were to leave the European Union without a trade deal (as I am publishing this Blog, some media report that a deal has finally been agreed), owning and travelling to holiday homes in France or Spain may become much more complicated for Brits, even more so in light of the prevailing Covid restrictions in place in many EU countries.

20 years ago globalisation was all the rage. Trade barriers were disappearing fast and low-cost airlines made international travel affordable for most. According to the Civil Aviation Authority, 255m passengers passed through all reporting UK airports in 2019 – 147 per cent more than in 1989. But once a pandemic was declared in March, the UK government advised against international travel, and by April the number of passengers going to and from its airports had fallen to a mere 1.4 per cent of the figure during the same month last year.

Global supply chains meant that parts for items designed in the USA were manufactured in South Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia to be assembled in Taiwan and China, only for the finished product to be shipped to Europe for sale to the discerning masses. COVID-19 put an end to all that. Due to lack of passengers airlines have grounded their aircraft, and a lack of shipping containers in Asia means that the wares produced in the Far East struggle to make it onto the shelves of European or American retailers (if they are open for business) or into the warehouses of the online shops.

That is not necessarily a bad thing. The fact that it’s much more complicated to organise holidays abroad certainly made many of us become increasingly aware of the impact our travels have on global warming and climate change. But what will it take for the travel bans to be lifted again? Will the populist governments of this world seize the opportunity to leave some of the travel restrictions in place permanently?

The latest blockade of Britain by a number of countries due to the COVID-19 mutation is understandable but counterproductive nevertheless. The french authorities having closed the their borders with the U.K. the weekend before Christmas, thousands of lorries are stranded in Dover with many drivers not being able to spend their holidays at home with their loved ones. At the same time British supermarkets warn of looming shortages of fruit and veg. This pandemic clearly has not only brought the best but also the worst out of us and our governments.

It would be interesting to see what future generations will be making of the Covid crisis in itself and of how both we both as individuals and as society as well as our authorities coped with it. No doubt some lessons already have and many more still will be learnt. One thing is certain though: Life after COVID-19 will never be the same as life before the pandemic. And while this overall may be a good thing, let’s not forget that in some ways our personal freedoms and our democratic rights have become more shackled in the process.