Rethinking governance after the Covid19 crisis – Post-Covid Europe #1

The public health crisis generated by the Covid19 pandemic and its consequences, along with the crisis management measures put in place by the European States and Union, deserve an analysis. The brutal socioeconomic and health impacts of this unforeseen crisis should make us reflect, among other things, on crisis management and social protection models, our public policies, political systems and the relationship between technology and human rights. For this reason, the Coppieters Foundation will be releasing a series of papers by experts to reflect on various topics related to post-Covid19 Europe.

In this paper, Serafin Pazos-Vidal, PhD in European Union writing in a personal capacity, explores challenges and opportunities for power devolution and self-government. The pandemic makes the structural weaknesses and internal stresses of the EU plainly evident. The first half of 2020 has seen renationalising instincts to fight the pandemic. At the same time, the decision that was taken to incur into shared borrowing in order to finance Next Generation EU proves that big shifts happen during major crises. This, to the author, will herald more EU intervention in the national sphere under the guise of “structural reform”. The contestation between the EU and national courts, along with violations of the rule of law in some countries is becoming unsustainable. Given all of these elements, the author explains why the scope of enhancing the substate dimension through the Conference on the Future of Europe looks rather limited.

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This paper is financially supported by the European Parliament. The European Parliament is not liable for the content of the paper nor the opinions expressed by its author.

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