When we needed unity, EU leaders failed challenge

Brussels insisted redemption could only come through penance and years of heavy austerity.

We accepted the burdens of the chastened. After much sacrifice, a regeneration was achieved.

But when the ignition of the global economy was switched off, and perfectly healthy businesses shut down, we were led to expect the unprecedented freeze-framing of financial activity would be met with a suite of responses - as befits such exceptional times.

So when Taoiseach Micheál Martin went to Brussels four days ago, there were solid grounds for thinking Europe's leaders would upscale their thinking in the face of a crisis unlike any other in the modern era,

Had not Mario Draghi, back in 2012, becalmed the storm, when he famously declared the ECB would do "whatever it takes to preserve the euro"?

To therefore read of French President Emanuel Macron being driven to bang the table and threaten a walkout, was unsettling.

His frustration at the need to plead and haggle, with the economies of the bloc on a cliff edge, was understandable,

As EU Council president Charles Michel noted earlier, in an effort to win over the coalition of 'Frugals' - the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Denmark and Finland - the human cost of the pandemic has been devastating.

The 600,000 global death toll included 200,000 Europeans, after all. If ever there were a time for solidarity, surely it is now?

But the fractious gathering forced him to pose the following question: "Are the 27 leaders responsible for the people of Europe capable of building European unity and trust? Or will we present the face of a weak Europe, undermined by mistrust?"

He was not the only one left weighing up such troubling concerns.

The sight of Hungary's hardline premier, Viktor Orban, accusing a fellow European leader of waging a personal vendetta against him will have done little to augment an image of a solid union in a time of emergency.

The credibility of the bloc depended on sending out a confident message of strength and cohesion.

Russia, China and Donald Trump's America will pounce on any sign of vulnerability as trade competition intensifies.

The feeble faltering face displayed in recent days was anything but inspiring.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's announcement she will be departing the scene had created an opportunity for someone else to rise to the occasion and take a leadership role.

But we are still waiting, As the Taoiseach said: "The prize is the opportunity for the EU to work to reboot and restart."

But it ought not to have been so difficult.