More than 200 European intellectuals, artists and politicians have signed an open letter to European Union leaders urging them to take swift action to ease the economic pain of the pandemic crisis, warning that failure could trigger “chaos and authoritarianism.”
“It is not only thousands of Europeans infected with the coronavirus that need to be saved today. There is another patient at risk of death — European values,” the letter says. The appeal was written by a group of Polish economists and other academics, and has been signed by Nobel-winning author Olga Tokarczuk and director Agnieszka Holland. Later signatories include Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg, Spanish writer Fernando Savater and Dutch cultural theorist Mieke Bal. U.S. Economist Jeffrey Sachs has endorsed it, writing a message of support.
By Wednesday, over 220 prominent intellectuals and politicians had signed the document addressed to David Sassoli, president of the European Parliament, Charles Michel, president of the European Council and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.
