How is EU cooperation on the Covid-19 crisis perceived in member states? CEPS Commentary 21 April

Russack, Sophia and Blockmans, Steven (2020) How is EU cooperation on the Covid-19 crisis perceived in member states? CEPS Commentary 21 April. [Policy Paper]

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Abstract

The crisis caused by the spread of Covid-19 has demonstrated how difficult European cooperation can be, especially in policy areas where the EU has only a legal competence to support member states. Some commentators have suggested that this marks the death knell of European integration, and even the most optimistic of them recognise it as one of the greatest challenges the EU has ever faced in terms of crisis management and demonstrating supranational added value. In general, all member states were initially inward-looking in their reactions; they unilaterally closed borders and focused on crisis management at home. European solidarity has largely been absent. Ultimately, however, the lockdown realities across Europe are quite similar. This instinctive self-preservation tells only one side of the story, however. As the virus affected all EU countries – albeit at different stages on the infection curve – it began to threaten the basics of the European economy and its financial system. In this second phase of the crisis there is a need for crisis management at the European level. But the measures decided so far appear marginal – at least in terms of their impact on public opinion in member states, as the EPIN country reports show. All that the EU’s 27 national leaders were able to agree upon so far was a joint bid to improve the procurement of personal protective equipment, increased funding for vaccine research, and relaxed regulatory enforcement. The Commission has also proposed the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative (CRII), to be financed through unused cohesion policy funds, but this requires approval by member states

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