Tensions within the bloc continue to mount, although Brussels now appears to be putting a vaccine under control. Statistics for May show that more than 20 percent of the population in member states has now been vaccinated, and Malta is leading the way with half of its citizens receiving the vaccine. However, this did not stop the mounting suspicion in Europe across the European Union, with a reminder of the European Commission – led by President Ursula von der Leyen – and its handling of the pandemic, which is still fresh in some people’s minds.

The start of implementation threatened diplomatic relations with countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia as there was disagreement over whether to introduce vaccines made before member states received their share of the vaccine.

When the European Union struggled to keep up with demand, the UK seemed to thrive away from the shackles of Brussels – the UK was able to fund and order as many vaccines as it wanted.

The UK’s approach was to go all-out in the early days of a vaccine rollout outside the European Union, which took longer to fund pharmaceutical companies and buy the strikes.

This has led some to question whether other member states should remain in the bloc.

Immediately after Brexit in 2016, David Wimmer, a fellow of European young professionals in foreign policy, explained how and why Sweden could follow Britain’s path.

He pointed out that the European project “suffered for a long time from the dual task of integrating countries into a supranational federal unit and unifying the entire European continent.”

“The expansion of the United Kingdom and the countries of Northern and Eastern Europe shows that the founding states favor a European project over full integration,” Wimmer wrote in his diplomatic letter.

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Sweden and the United Kingdom have always had a strong friendship on the block. The two countries together reportedly voted 88 percent of the vote between 2009 and 2015.

Countries also successfully cited the unprecedented cost of securing the first EU budget cut in 2013.

A panel of influential commentators and politicians recommended these concerns about Sweden’s exit from the European Union and urged northern powers in Denmark and Stockholm to cut ties with the bloc.

Mark Brolin, Jean-Eric Gustafson, Hill Hagenau, Ula Klotzer, and Erna Bjarnadottir from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland together co-wrote an opinion piece that also showed how the European Union would turn against voters critical of the bloc.

They said that “with the growing distrust of voters in the European Union, many member states suffer from political instability at home.”

The committee noted that there is also “increasing friction” between member states pursuing “incompatible targets” within the European Union.

“The so-called end of peace has thus become a point of contention,” said the article, which was published in Aftonbladet in 2017.

Public debate is more limited than it has been since the democratic transition. The treatment of European Union critics appears to have set low moral standards.

“People?” European Union spokesmen gave the highest voter rating and supported the union.

When voting is mixed with skepticism, a large portion of Europeans are described as narrow-minded, old-fashioned and alienated, or under the authority of “dark forces”.