The Italian politician, who served as the 10th President of the European Commission, said: “This is like a war, but the EU has no strategy”. Mr Prodi hit out at the bloc by demanding Europe steps up to its role as an "anchor of democracy" if it does not want to "disappear from the map". The ex-president of the European Commission described the battle against COVID-19 as not being like the 2008 financial crisis that started from finance and then affected the rest of the economy.