It is hard to say, as Time magazine deemed, whether or not 2020 has been the worst year ever in the history of humankind. For sure, though, the pandemic has upset everyone’s life, and it has forced the whole world to face radical and unprecedented challenges.

The inner workings of our societies have proved ineffective against this enemy, which has made us coping with grief and loss, social isolation and wreaked havoc on entire production sectors.

The basic question that intertwined political decisions and public health is: how can the right of health reconcile with the interests of the economy?

Every country has reacted differently, accordingly with their very own cultural awareness.

EU has proven itself unite and able to foresight the upcoming needs, planning Next Generation EU. Alongside with the long-term budget agreed by the Union, these two allowances will set an unprecedented package of financial measures, in order to ease the economic impact of coronavirus and promote a future economic recovery.

In the darkest hour, UE has proven itself able to face the most challenging times.

It is already worth to look forward to the biggest challenge of 2021: the wider mass vaccination campaign in history.

EMA, European Medicines Agency, should give the green light for the distribution of the vaccine starting from the 29^th of December. The following approval by the Commission is due for the first days of January. Only then it would be finally possible to start the vaccination campaigns.

Will there be a European V-day, as many ask for, or will every Member States act independently? The only certainty is that this will be a really challenging task to carry out.

Meanwhile, the shadow of a possible hard-Brexit lengthens over the European politics.

In conclusion, 2021 will be a year of complex challenges and unpredictable outcomes.

On the other hand, is it not the European Union purposely born to attempt to tackle this kind of issues?

Enjoy your reading.