Governments both in Europe and elsewhere in the world had to respond by taking resolute action in order to shore up public healthcare systems and by imposing social distancing measures with a view to containing the spread of the pandemic, which have however further weighed on economic activity.
Clearly, the duty of solidarity must be complied with, and this solidarity needs to take the shape of concrete action. For example, when I see Germany offering hospital beds and taking on patients from the Grand-Est region of France, it may not be, for some observers, the great gesture of financial solidarity that is expected, but it shows solidarity nevertheless.