Sick man of Europe

{{Short description|Geopolitical designation}}File:Punch magazine - Turkey Ltd - 1896.jpg, dated June 6, 1896. It shows Sultan Abdul Hamid II in front of a poster that announces the reorganization of the Ottoman Empire. The empire's value is estimated at £5 million (£{{inflation|UK-GDP|5|1896}} million in {{Inflation/year|UK-GDP}}{{Inflation/fn|UK-GDP}}). Russia, France and Britain are listed as the directors of the reorganisation. The caricature satirized the impoverished state of the Ottoman economy at the time.]]

"Sick man of Europe" is a label given to a state located in Europe that is experiencing economic difficulties, social unrest or impoverishment. It is most famously used to refer to the Ottoman Empire (predecessor of present-day Turkey) whilst they were in a state of decline in the 19th century.

Emperor Nicholas I of the Russian Empire is considered to be the first to use the term "Sick Man" to describe the Ottoman Empire in the mid-19th century.{{Cite web|last1=Karaian|first1=Jason|last2=Sonnad|first2=Nikhil|date=2019|title=All the people, places, and things called the 'sick man of Europe' over the past 160 years|url=https://qz.com/588958/all-the-people-places-and-things-called-the-sick-man-of-europe-over-the-past-160-years/|access-date=2021-12-21|website=Quartz|language=en}}{{cite web |title=British Battles. Crimea, 1854. |url=https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20210802111724/https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/battles/crimea/ |website=The National Archives' Website: Online Exhibitions: British Battles |access-date=4 December 2024 |location=Kew, Richmond, UK |date=2006}} The characterization existed during the "Eastern question" in diplomatic history, which also referred to the decline of the Ottoman Empire in terms of the balance of power in Europe.{{Cite book|last=Badem|first=Candan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DXoYJikZ7ygC|title=The Ottoman Crimean War, 1853-1856|date=2010|publisher=Brill|others=citing Eckstädt, 1887|isbn=978-90-04-19096-2|location=Boston|pages=68–69|oclc=668221743}} After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century, the term has been applied to other states. In modern usage, the term has faced criticism due to its origins and arguable over-usage.

Throughout the 1960s to the 1980s, the term was also most notably used for the United Kingdom when it lost its superpower status as the Empire crumbled and its home islands experienced significant deindustrialization, coupled with high inflation and industrial unrest – such as the Winter of Discontent – including having to seek loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Since the mid-2010s and into the 2020s, the term being used for Britain began to see a resurgence after Brexit, a cost-of-living crisis and industrial disputes and strikes becoming more commonplace.

As of 2024, Germany is most commonly referred to as the 'Sick Man of Europe' due to its consistently stagnant economy and in particular, its industrial base, since the COVID-19 pandemic{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/sep/01/germany-economy-problem-analogue-industries|title=The German problem? It's an analogue country in a digital world |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2024-09-01 |accessdate=2024-09-06}} and the reduction in imports of inexpensive natural gas from Russia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/key-energy-output-data-track-germany-charts-economic-revival-maguire-2025-02-25/|title=Key energy and output data to track as Germany charts economic revival|newspaper=Reuters|accessdate=2025-03-08}} This has been demonstrated by Germany having the lowest GDP growth amongst the large G7 industrialised economies compared to the pre-pandemic level.{{Cite news|url=https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn02784/|title=GDP – International Comparisons: Key Economic Indicators |newspaper=House of Commons Library |date=2024-08-15 |accessdate=2024-09-06}} The country had previously been referred to as the 'Sick Man' during the late 1990s to early 2000s.

Origin

= Early usage =

Russian Tsar Nicholas I ({{Reign|1825|1855}}), seeking to expand into parts of the Ottoman Empire during the Eastern Question, had described Turkey as "sick" or "sick man" during his meeting with Austrian chancellor Metternich ({{Reign|1809|1848|label=in office}}) in Münchengrätz, two months after the Treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi in September 1833. In his own writing, Metternich said he had argued against this characterization.{{Cite book|last1=Vitzthum von Eckstädt|first1=Karl Friedrich|url=http://archive.org/details/stpetersburgand01ecksgoog|title=St. Petersburg and London in the years 1852–64|last2=Reeve|first2=Henry|last3=Taylor|first3=Edward Fairfax|date=1887|publisher=London, Longmans, Green & co.|others=University of Michigan|pages=29–30}}{{Cite journal|last=Šedivý|first=Miroslav|date=2011|title=From Adrianople to Münchengrätz: Metternich, Russia, and the Eastern Question 1829–33|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23032802|journal=The International History Review|volume=33|issue=2|pages=205–233|doi=10.1080/07075332.2011.555387|jstor=23032802|s2cid=154635816|issn=0707-5332|url-access=subscription}} Conventionally, foreign minister Metternich was opposed to the characterization of the Ottoman Empire as "sick man of the Bosphorus" because this could lead to his country, the Austrian Empire, becoming the "sick man of the Danube".{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/77601805|title=Discourses of collective identity in Central and Southeast Europe (1770-1945) : texts and commentaries. Vol. II, National romanticism, the formation of national movements|date=2007|publisher=Central European University Press|others=Balázs Trencsényi, Michal Kopeček|isbn=978-1-4294-2547-6|location=Budapest|pages=368|oclc=77601805}} Other historians, evaluating the conservative "Holy Alliance" of the time, have seen Metternich's foreign policy as aligned with Nicholas, including the policy towards the Ottoman Empire.

= Crimean War =

British statesman John Russell in 1853, in the run-up to the Crimean War, reported that Nicholas I of Russia described the Ottoman Empire as "a sick man—a very sick man", a "man who has fallen into a state of decrepitude", and a "sick man ... gravely ill".de Bellaigue, Christopher. "[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/14094#fnr1 Turkey's Hidden Past]". The New York Review of Books, 48:4, 2001-03-08.de Bellaigue, Christopher. "[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/14094#fnr1 The Sick Man of Europe]". The New York Review of Books, 48:11, 2001-07-05.{{Cite news|last=Bellaigue|first=Christopher de|title='The Sick Man of Europe'|journal=The New York Review of Books|language=en|url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2001/07/05/the-sick-man-of-europe/|access-date=2021-12-21|issn=0028-7504}}"[http://www.britannica.com/ebi/article-206012 Ottoman Empire]." Britannica Student Encyclopedia. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 19 Apr. 2007.

There has been some degree of debate about the source of the quotation, which often relies on historical documents held or communicated personally. Historian Harold Temperley (1879–1939) gave the date for the first conversation as 9 January 1853, like Goldfrank.Harold Temperley, England and the Near East (London: Longmans, Greens and Co., 1936), p. 272. According to Temperley, Seymour in a private conversation had to push the Tsar to be more specific about the Ottoman Empire. Eventually, the Tsar stated,

Turkey seems to be falling to pieces, the fall will be a great misfortune. It is very important that England and Russia should come to a perfectly good understanding ... and that neither should take any decisive step of which the other is not apprized [sic].{{Cite book|last=Temperley|first=Harold|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hu6aDwAAQBAJ|title=England and the Near East: The Crimea|date=2019-05-29|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-429-64054-4|language=en}}

And then, closer to the attributed phrase:

We have a sick man on our hands, a man gravely ill, it will be a great misfortune if one of these days he slips through our hands, especially before the necessary arrangements are made.Harold Temperley, England and the Near East (London: Longmans, Greens and Co., 1936), p. 272. Temperley's translation of the Emperor's comment [spoken in French] is quite accurate. An alternative translation from the original published document follows: "We have on our hands a sick man—a very sick man: it will be, I tell you frankly, a great misfortune if, one of these days, he should slip away from us, especially before all necessary arrangements were made." Source: Parliamentary Papers. Accounts and Papers: Thirty-Six Volumes: Eastern Papers, V. Session 31 January – 12 August 1854, Vol. LXXI (London: Harrison and Son, 1854), doc. 1, p. 2.

Different interpretations existed between the two countries on the "Eastern Question" by the time of the Crimean War. The British Ambassador G. H. Seymour agreed with Tsar Nicholas's diagnosis, but he very deferentially disagreed with the Tsar's recommended treatment of the patient; he responded,

Your Majesty is so gracious that you will allow me to make one further observation. Your Majesty says the man is sick; it is very true; but your Majesty will deign to excuse me if I remark, that it is the part of the generous and strong man to treat with gentleness the sick and feeble man.Parliamentary Papers. Accounts and Papers: Thirty-Six Volumes: Eastern Papers, V. Session 31 January – 12 August 1854, Vol. LXXI (London: Harrison and Son, 1854), doc. 1, p. 2.

Temperley then asserts,

The 'sickliness' of Turkey obsessed Nicholas during his reign. What he really said was omitted in the Blue Book from a mistaken sense of decorum. He said not the 'sick man' but the "bear dies … the bear is dying … you may give him musk but even musk will not long keep him alive."Harold Temperley, England and the Near East (London: Longmans, Greens and Co., 1936), p. 272; cites: F.O. 65/424. From Seymour, No. 87 of February 21, 1853.

Christopher de Bellaigue argued that neither Nicholas nor Seymour completed the epithet with the prepositional phrase "of Europe".

The first appearance of the phrase "sick man of Europe" appears in The New York Times (12 May 1860):

The condition of Austria at the present moment is not less threatening in itself, though less alarming for the peace of the world, than was the condition of Turkey when the Tsar Nicholas invited England to draw up with him the last will and testament of the 'sick man of Europe.' It is, indeed, hardly within the range of probability that another twelvemonth should pass over the House of Habsburg without bringing upon the Austrian Empire a catastrophe unmatched in modern history since the downfall of Poland.{{Cite news|date=1860-05-12|title=Austria in Extremis.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1860/05/12/archives/austria-in-extremis.html|access-date=2021-12-21|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite book|last=Buttar|first=Prit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8knDCwAAQBAJ|title=Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914|date=2014-06-20|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-78200-971-9|pages=67|language=en}}

The author of this article can be seen to be using the term to point to a second "sick man" of Europe, the Habsburg monarchy.

= World War One =

Later, this view led the Allies in World War I to underestimate the Ottoman Empire, leading in part to the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign.{{Cite book|last=Ph.D|first=David T. Zabecki|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rCWMBQAAQBAJ&q=leading+in+part+to+the+disastrous+Gallipoli+Campaign&pg=PA524|title=Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History [4 volumes]: 400 Years of Military History|date=2014-10-28|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-981-3|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Tucker|first=Spencer C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DBwTBQAAQBAJ&q=leading+in+part+to+the+disastrous+Gallipoli+Campaign&pg=PA569|title=World War I: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection [5 volumes]: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection|date=2014-10-28|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-965-8|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Hamilton|first=John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M1SuCAAAQBAJ&q=leading+in+part+to+the+disastrous+Gallipoli+Campaign&pg=PR13|title=Gallipoli Victoria Cross Hero: The Price of Valour- The Triumph and Tragedy of Hugo Throssell VC|date=2015-04-30|publisher=Frontline Books|isbn=978-1-84832-903-4|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Atkin|first=Malcolm|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZKSgCgAAQBAJ&q=leading+in+part+to+the+disastrous+Gallipoli+Campaign&pg=PA180|title=Fighting Nazi Occupation: British Resistance 1939-1945|date=2015-09-18|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=978-1-4738-3377-7|language=en}} However, the "sick man" eventually collapsed after defeat in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I.

Post-World War I usage

After the demise of the Ottoman Empire, writers have described many countries as the "sick men" of Europe or the Old World.

= France =

During the 1950s, France was characterized as the "sick man of Europe", due to a combination of economic issues and a fading optimism since the country was reestablished after World War II.{{Cite journal |last=Peterson |first=Wallace C. |date=April 1957 |title=Planning and Economic Progress in France |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/world-politics/article/abs/planning-and-economic-progress-in-france/A9BF423F23D104A4BAE91111A6CA91A9 |journal=World Politics |language=en |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=351–382 |doi=10.2307/2008919 |jstor=2008919 |s2cid=156469824 |issn=1086-3338|url-access=subscription }} In 1953, Paul Reynaud described France as such to the National Assembly.{{Cite news |date=20 June 1953 |title=THE SICK MAN OF EUROPE |pages=16 |work=The New York Times |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.comhttp//arch-timesmachine-fe-prd-40741-2-575473780.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com/timesmachine/1953/06/20/84407482.html?pageNumber=16 |access-date=2023-08-16}}

A 2007 report by Morgan Stanley referred to France as the "new sick man of Europe".{{cite web |last=Berner |first=Richard |date=2 March 2007 |title=Does Market Turmoil Change the Outlook? |url=http://www.morganstanley.com/views/gef/archive/2007/20070302-Fri.html#anchor4498 |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927021756/http://www.morganstanley.com/views/gef/archive/2007/20070302-Fri.html |archive-date=27 September 2007 |accessdate= |publisher=Morgan Stanley}} This label was reaffirmed in January 2014 by European newspapers such as The Guardian and {{lang|de|Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung}}.{{cite news |last=Finkenzeller |first=Karin |date=21 January 2014 |title=Der kranke Mann Europas |language=de |trans-title=The sick man of Europe |newspaper=Die Zeit |url=http://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2014-01/frankreich-reformen-europa-hollande |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514073548/https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2014-01/frankreich-reformen-europa-hollande |archive-date=14 May 2023}}{{Cite news |date=28 January 2014 |title=Frankreich holt sich Rat von Peter Hartz |language=de |trans-title=France seeks advice from Peter Hartz |newspaper=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung |publisher=Frankfurter Allgemeine |url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/wirtschaftspolitik/arbeitsmarktreformen-frankreich-holt-sich-rat-von-peter-hartz-12773174.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230510203538/https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/wirtschaftspolitik/arbeitsmarktreformen-frankreich-holt-sich-rat-von-peter-hartz-12773174.html |archive-date=10 May 2023}} They justified this with France's high unemployment, weak economic growth and poor industrial output.{{Cite news |last=Elliott |first=Larry |date=2014-01-14 |title=France: the New Sick Man of Europe |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/14/france-sick-man-europe-economy |accessdate=19 April 2014}}

= Germany =

In the late 1990s, Germany was often labeled with this term because of its economic problems, especially due to the costs of German reunification after 1990, which were estimated to amount to over €1.5 trillion (statement of Freie Universität Berlin).[https://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3987219 "The real sick man of Europe"], The Economist. May 19, 2005. It continued to be used in the early 2000s, and as Germany slipped into recession in 2003.{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/node/209559 |title=The sick man of the euro |newspaper=The Economist |date=1999-06-03 |accessdate=2017-07-02}} In contrast, a 2016 article by The Guardian described the German economy under Angela Merkel as a "revival" from the country's previous "sick man" status.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/18/angela-merkel-sick-man-of-europe-germany-economy-chancellor |title=Angela Merkel and the revival of the sick man of Europe |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2016-11-19 |accessdate=2017-07-02|last1=Oltermann |first1=Philip }} However, when Germany was experiencing economic issues again in the 2020s, concerns about the "sick man" characterisation reemerged, with Kiel Institute President Moritz Schularick saying: "If Germany does not want to become the 'sick man of Europe' once again, it must now courageously turn its attention to the growth sectors of tomorrow instead of fearfully spending billions to preserve yesterday's energy-intensive industries."{{Cite news |last=Böhme |first=Henrik |date=1 August 2023 |title=Germany: The return of the 'sick man' of Europe? |work=Deutsche Welle |url=https://www.dw.com/en/germany-economy-weakens-2023/a-66403943}}

= Italy =

In 1972, PSDI politician Luigi Preti wrote a book titled Sick Italy ({{Lang|it|Italia malata}}). In it, he says that Italy was at risk of becoming "the sick man of Europe who has proved unable to keep in step as soon as he reached the first milestone on the road to well‐being".{{Cite news |last=Hofmann |first=Paul |date=26 November 1972 |title=Spreading Malaise Vexes Italy |pages=1 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/26/archives/spreading-malaise-vexes-italy-growing-malaise-worries-italians.html}}

In May 2005, this title was again attributed to Italy, with The Economist describing it as "the real sick man of Europe". This refers to Italy's structural and political difficulties thought to inhibit economic reforms to relaunch economic growth. In 2018, Italy was again referred to as the "sick man of Europe" following post-election deadlock.{{cite web|author=Mehreen Khan|url=https://www.ft.com/.../ac7e7446-20c9-11e8-9efc-0cd3483b8b80 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/.../ac7e7446-20c9-11e8-9efc-0cd3483b8b80 |archive-date=2022-12-10 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Italy's populists are Juncker's big headache|website=Financial Times|accessdate=6 March 2018}}{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/surveys/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5164061 |title=Addio, dolce vita |newspaper=The Economist | date=24 November 2005}} In 2008, in an opinion piece criticizing the country's approach to economic reform, The Daily Telegraph also used the term to describe Italy,{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3557277/Italy-The-sick-man-of-Europe.html |title=Italy: The sick man of Europe |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=2008-04-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091220040904/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3557277/Italy-The-sick-man-of-Europe.html |archive-date=2009-12-20|url-status=live|access-date=3 May 2023}} as did a CNBC op-ed in 2020.[https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/03/italy-the-sick-man-of-europe-tries-to-administer-its-own-medicine.html "Op-Ed: Italy, the 'sick man of Europe', tries to administer its own medicine"]. CNBC, 3 March 2020.

= Russia =

The Russian Empire in 1917 was described as the "Sick Man of Europe" in an edition of The New York Times from that year. In the 1917 article by Charles Richard Crane, the illness metaphor is used more directly, with the empire described as "Suffering From Overdose of Exaggerated Modernism in Socialist Reform Ideas", and "the danger for the patient lay in the fact that too many quacks and ignorant specialists were contending for the right to be admitted to the bedside and administer nostrums."{{Cite news |date=1917-09-26 |title=CRANE DIAGNOSES RUSSIA'S AILMENT; She Is Suffering From Overdose of Exaggerated Modernism in Socialist Reform Ideas. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1917/09/26/archives/crane-diagnoses-russias-ailment-she-is-suffering-from-overdose-of.html |access-date=2021-12-21 |issn=0362-4331}}

Post-Soviet Russia has also been referred to as such in the 2007 book Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End of Revolution by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser,Peter Baker, Susan Glasser, Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End of Revolution (Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, 2007), pp. 179–176. and by Mark Steyn in his 2006 book America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It.{{Cite book |last=Steyn |first=Mark |title=America alone: the end of the world as we know it |date=2008 |publisher=Regnery Publ |isbn=978-0-89526-078-9 |location=Washington/D.C}}

In the aftermath of the Wagner Group rebellion during the Russian invasion of Ukraine (and Vladimir Putin's perceived weakness in confronting it), political scientist Aleksandar Đokić said in 2023 that the "sick man of Europe" moniker "seem[ed] fitting for Putin’s Russia". While acknowledging the term itself to be simplistic, Đokić stated that:

{{Quoteblock|text="The poetic justice of the imperialistic, orientalising and commonly overused term coming back to haunt its place of origin aside, Putin’s Russia has decidedly found itself in a military, economic, political, demographic, and even conceptual dead end."{{Cite news |last=Đokić |first=Aleksandar |date=19 July 2023 |title=An empire on its deathbed can still cause pain and suffering |work=Euronews |url=https://www.euronews.com/2023/07/19/an-empire-on-its-deathbed-can-still-cause-pain-and-suffering}}}}

=United Kingdom=

Throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, the United Kingdom was sometimes characterized as the "sick man of Europe", first by commentators, and later at home by critics of the third Wilson/Callaghan ministry due to industrial strife and poor economic performance compared with other European countries.[https://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3987219 "The real sick man of Europe"], The Economist. May 19, 2005. Some observers consider this era to have started with the devaluation of the pound in 1967, culminating with the so-called Winter of Discontent of 1978–79. At different points throughout the decade, numerous countries such as Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, and Greece were cited by the American business press as being "on the verge of sickness" as well.

In the summer of 2017, the United Kingdom was again referred to as the "sick man of Europe" due to the immediate impact of the EU referendum results.{{Cite news|last1=Branchflower|first1=David|title='Britain is fast becoming the sick man of Europe' – experts debate Brexit data|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jul/24/britain-is-fast-becoming-the-sick-man-of-europe-experts-debate-brexit-data|newspaper=The Guardian|accessdate=24 July 2017|date=2017-07-24}} The term was used frequently by the early 2020s with regards to the economic effects of Brexit, ongoing industrial action in the public sector, leadership turmoil within the Conservative party, and the cost of living crisis.{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/uk-news/tory-party-leadership-race-brexit-guy-hands-b2209460.html|title=Tories turning UK into 'sick man of Europe', says top party donor|date=October 24, 2022|website=The Independent}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/uk-set-to-be-sick-man-of-europe-says-tory-backer/ar-AA13je8Y|title=UK set to be sick man of Europe, says Tory backer|website=MSN}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63371743|title=UK doomed without Brexit rethink, warns City boss|work=BBC News |date=October 24, 2022}} As of June 2023, the label is still frequently applied to the United Kingdom as inflation and price increases continue to generate economic uncertainty within the country.{{cite news |title=Why does Britain have the worst inflation in the G7? - BBC Newsnight |url=https://theglobalherald.com/news/why-does-britain-have-the-worst-inflation-in-the-g7-bbc-newsnight/ |access-date=5 June 2023 |publisher=BBC News |date=5 June 2023}}

The term was also more literally applied during the COVID-19 pandemic after a new strain of coronavirus, the Alpha variant, led to a number of countries closing their borders to UK air travel.{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-britain/sick-man-of-europe-uk-cut-off-over-fears-about-new-covid-strain-idUSKBN28V0OT|title='Sick man of Europe': UK cut off over fears about new COVID strain|publisher=Reuters|last1=Mey|first1=Gerhard|last2=Makori|first2=Ben|date=2020-12-21|accessdate=2020-12-21}}

= Other uses =

Swedish Diplomat and former Prime Minister Carl Bildt once referred to Serbia under the rule of Slobodan Milošević as a candidate for the new "sick man of Europe" in 1997. This is due to political instability in Yugoslavia and its former territories caused by Yugoslav Wars that rocked the Balkan region from 1991 until 2001.{{cite web |date=1997-01-09 |title=Western Press Review: Milosevic And The New 'Sick Man Of Europe' |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1083031.html |accessdate=2021-11-19 |publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty}}

In 2007, The Economist described Portugal as "a new sick man of Europe".[https://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9009032 "A new sick man of Europe"]. The Economist

In July 2009, the pejorative was given by EurActiv to Greece in view of the 2008 Greek riots, rising unemployment, and political corruption.{{Cite web |date=11 December 2008 |title=Greece to appear 'sick man' at EU summit |url=https://www.euractiv.com/section/social-europe-jobs/news/greece-to-appear-sick-man-at-eu-summit/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230503012039/https://www.euractiv.com/section/social-europe-jobs/news/greece-to-appear-sick-man-at-eu-summit/ |archive-date=2023-05-03 |access-date=3 May 2023}}

In spring 2011, Eurozine suggested that the European Union was the "sick man of Europe" by entitling an event focusing on the Eurozone crisis, "The EU: the real sick man of Europe?"{{cite web |title=The EU: the real sick man of Europe? |url=https://www.eurozine.com/the-eu-the-real-sick-man-of-europe-2/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220702040949/https://www.eurozine.com/the-eu-the-real-sick-man-of-europe-2/ |archive-date=2022-07-02 |access-date=3 May 2023 |work=Eurozine|date=5 August 2011 }}

In 2015 and 2016, Finland was called the "sick man of Europe" due to its recession and lacklustre growth, in a time when virtually all other European countries had recovered from the Great Recession.{{cite news |last=Khan |first=Mehreen |date=2015-11-13 |title=Finland emerges as the 'new sick man of Europe' as euro's worst performing economy |newspaper=Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11993040/Finland-emerges-as-the-new-sick-man-of-Europe-as-euros-worst-performing-economy.html |accessdate=2017-07-02}}{{Cite news |last=Walker |first=Andrew |date=2016-02-29 |title=Finland: The sick man of Europe? |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35656150 |access-date=2017-07-02}}