endIndex: COVID-19, Brexit and the international political carnage of this year have hammered the continent and exacerbated tensions that have blighted the European Union for years. (FILE PHOTO) (CNN) — You'd struggle to find anyone in Europe who will be unhappy to see the back of 2020. COVID-19, Brexit and the international political carnage of this year have hammered the continent and exacerbated tensions that have blighted the European Union for years. But those problems are not going anywhere in 2021. With no pandemic, fraught talks with the UK or an American president as anti-European Union as Donald Trump, Brussels might finally find space to address issues that have long undermined the bloc — though it won't be easy.