Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T11:14:06.610Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The COVID-19 Crisis: The EU Recovery Fund and its Implications for European Integration – a Paradigm Shift

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2021

Chih-Mei Luo Open the ORCID record for Chih-Mei Luo [Opens in a new window]
Chih-Mei Luo*
Affiliation:
National Taipei University, No. 151, University Road, San Shia District, New Taipei City, 23741Taiwan, Republic of China. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The EU’s latest decision on adopting the recovery fund was revolutionary, both quantitatively and qualitatively. It would also dominate the EU’s economic governance of the decade of the 2020s. This article is an attempt to evaluate whether the EU’s recovery fund was the right policy answers to the post-COVID-19 EU economy or not, and explore its meanings and implications for European integration. This article argues that COVID-19 hit the EU at a time of health and social precariousness, and proved the conventional economic governance unsustainable. Necessities for game-changing in the post-COVID-19 economic governance were justified on both practical and moral grounds. Judging with these yardsticks, the EU’s recovery fund was evaluated as a welcomed paradigm shift in both the ideology and methodology of its economic governance. Beyond a contemporary economic rescue package, the recovery fund implied laying the cornerstone of completing a fiscal union in the Eurozone, for enhancing institutional functions of the European Commission, and for rediscovering the nature of European integration as the rescuer of national states, through the newly-forming consensus between Eurosceptic nationalists and pro-EU integrationists. This article reminds us that the COVID-19 crisis was a crucial opportunity for EU leadership to legitimize the EU’s existence in the post-Brexit era. If well implemented, the recovery fund could usher in a new chapter of European integration. If it fails, European integration would be at risk of further fragmentation and entrench into an ever-stronger anti-EU populism.

Type
Article
Information
European Review , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , June 2022 , pp. 374 - 392
Copyright
© 2021 Academia Europaea

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ames, P (2020) How Portugal became Europe’s coronavirus exception. Politico 14 April 2020. Available at https://www.politico.eu/article/how-portugal-became-europes-coronavirus-exception/ (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Amnesty International (2018) Wrong Prescription: The Impact of Austerity Measures on the Right to Health in Spain. London: Amnesty International.Google Scholar
Armocida, B, Formenti, B, Ussai, S, Palestra, F and Missoni, E (2020) The Italian health system and the COVID-19 challenge. The Lancet 5(5), E253.Google ScholarPubMed
Aubry, M and Schirdewan, M (2020) Solidarity is the cure for post-pandemic Europe. EU Observer 12 May 2020. Available at https://euobserver.com/stakeholders/148324 (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Bergsen, P (2020) Coronavirus: why the EU needs to unleash the ECB. Expert Comments of Royal Institute of International Affairs, published on 18 March 2020, London: Chatham House.Google Scholar
Bergsen, P, Billion-Galland, A, Kundnani, H, Ntousas, V and Raines, T (2020) Europe after coronavirus: the EU and a new political economy. Research Paper of Royal Institute of International Affairs June 2020, pp. 1–20.Google Scholar
Blackburn, C and Ruyle, L (2020) How leadership in various countries has affected COVID-19 response effectiveness. The Conversation, issued on 27 May 2020. Available at https://theconversation.com/how-leadership-in-various-countries-has-affected-covid-19-response-effectiveness-138692 (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Braun, E, Kayali, L and Tamma, P (2020) Coronavirus pandemic leaves gig economy workers exposed. Politico 19 March 2020. Available at https://www.politico.eu/article/coronavirus-pandemic-leaves-gig-economy-workers-exposed/ (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Capano, G (2020) Policy design and state capacity in the COVID-19 emergency in Italy: if you are not prepared for the (un)expected, you can be only what you already are. Policy and Society 39(3), 326–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crane, M (2020) Opinion: Angela Merkel’s moment to define the EU’s future. DW, 30 June 2020. Available at https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-angela-merkels-moment-to-define-the-eus-future/a-53994546 (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Creel, J, Holzner, M, Saraceno, F, Watt, A and Wittwer, J (2020) How to spend it: a proposal for a European COVID-19 recovery programme. Policy Brief 72, issued on 18 June 2020, Paris: French Economic Observatory.Google Scholar
De, Bundesregierung (2020) A French-German initiative for the European recovery from the coronavirus crisis. Pressemitteilung Number 173/20, issued on 18 May 2020.Google Scholar
Devlin, K and Connaughton, A (2020) Most Approved of National Response to COVID-19 in 14 Advanced Economies. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.Google Scholar
DW (2018) How France’s Emmanuel Macron wants to reform the EU. 16 March 2018. Available at https://www.dw.com/en/how-frances-emmanuel-macron-wants-to-reform-the-eu/a-43002078 (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Enriquez, CG (2020) Is Spain doing well or badly in its response to COVID-19? Expert Comment 16/2020, issued on 4 May 2020, Madrid: Elcano Royal Institute.Google Scholar
European Commission (2020a) European economic forecast: Spring 2020. Institutional Paper 125, May 2020, Brussels: European Commission.Google Scholar
European Commission (2020b) Commission Staff Working Document: Identifying Europe’s Recovery Needs. Brussels: European Commission.Google Scholar
European Commission (2020c) Europe’s moment: repair and prepare for the next generation. Press Release, issued on 27 May 2020, Brussels: European Commission.Google Scholar
European Council (2020) Special European Council, 17–21 2020: main results. Brussels: European Council. Available at https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/european-council/2020/07/17-21/ (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
European Parliament (2020) Public Opinion in the EU: In Times of COVID-19n (3rd Survey). Brussels: European Parliament.Google Scholar
Eurostat (2020) Government finance statistics. Issued on 22 April 2020. Brussels: Eurostat. Available at https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Government_finance_statistics (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Foster, D (2020) Austerity is the patient zero of coronavirus. Jacobin 12 March 2020. Available at https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/03/coronavirus-austerity-nhs-sick-leave (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Franklin, B, Hochlaf, D and Holley-Moore, G (2017) Public Health in Europe during the Austerity Years. London: International Longevity Centre UK.Google Scholar
Gaston, S (2020) COVID-19: the end of the populist moment? British Foreign Policy Group Analysis. London: British Foreign Policy Group. Available at https://bfpg.co.uk/2020/04/covid-19-populism/ (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Grant, C (2020) CER Insight: Coronavirus is Pushing the EU in New and Undesirable Directions. London, Brussels and Berlin: Centre for European Reform.Google Scholar
Gros, D (2020) Europe’s new deal moment. CEPS in Brief. Issued on 11 June 2020. Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies. Available at https://www.ceps.eu/europes-new-deal-moment/ (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Gugushvili, A, Koltai, J, Stuckler, D and McKee, M (2020) Votes, populism and pandemics. International Journal of Public Health 65, 721–722.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hedgecoe, (2020) In Spain, austerity legacy cripples coronavirus fight. Politico 28 March 2020. Available at https://www.politico.eu/article/in-spain-austerity-legacy-cripples-coronavirus-fight/ (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Henriquez, J, Almorox, EG, Garcia-Goni, M and Paolucci, F (2020) The first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. Health Policy and Technology, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlpt.2020.08.013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horowitz, J, Bubola, E and Povoledo, E (2020) Italy, pandemic’s new epicenter, has lessons for the world. New York Times 21 March 2020. Available at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/21/world/europe/italy-coronavirus-center-lessons.html (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Indolfi, C and Spaccarotella, C (2020) The outbreak of COVID-19 in Italy. JACC: Case Reports 2(9), 1414–1418.Google ScholarPubMed
International Monetary Fund (2020) World Economic Outlook Update: A Crisis Like No Other. An Uncertain Recovery. Washington, DC: IMF.Google Scholar
Johnson, K (2020) Are the Germans edging closer to the true fiscal union? Foreign Policy, published on 20 May 2020. Available at https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/05/20/germany-fiscal-union-france-euro-fund/ (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Juncker, J-C, Tusk, D, Dijsselbloem, J, Draghi, M and Schulz, M (2015) Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union. Brussels: European Commission.Google Scholar
Kleine-Brockhoff, (2020) Why populist nationalists are not having a good crisis yet? Policy Brief No. 5. Issued on 4 September 2020. Washington, DC: The German Marshall Fund of the United States.Google Scholar
Krastev, I and Leonard, M (2020) Europe’s Pandemic Politics: How the Virus Has Changed the Public’s Worldview. Berlin: European Council on Foreign Relations.Google Scholar
Landwehr, C and Schafer, A (2020) Populist, technocratic, and authoritarian responses to Covid-19. Social Science Research Council Items. Issued on 23 July 2020. New York: Social Science Research Council. Available at https://items.ssrc.org/covid-19-and-the-social-sciences/democracy-and-pandemics/populist-technocratic-and-authoritarian-responses-to-covid-19/ (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Lassa, J and Booth, M (2020) Are populist leaders a liability during COVID-19? The Conversation. Issued on 8 April 2020. Available at https://theconversation.com/are-populist-leaders-a-liability-during-covid-19-135431 (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Legido-Quigley, H, Otero, L, la Parra, D, Alvarez-Dardet, C, Martin-Moreno, JM and McKee, M (2013) Will austerity cuts dismantle the Spanish healthcare system? British Medical Journal 346, f2363.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Legido-Quigley, H, Mateos-Garcia, JT, Campos, VR, Gea-Sanchez, M, Muntaner, C and McKee, M (2020) The resilience of the Spanish health system against the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lancet 5, e251–252.Google ScholarPubMed
Leino, P (2020) Next Generation EU: Breaking a taboo or breaking the law? CEPS in Brief. Published on 24 June 2020. Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies.Google Scholar
Luo, CM (2020) The EU’s Crisis Decade: Reflecting on EU Capitalism and Governance. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mallet, V and Khalaf, R (2020) Transcript: ‘We are at a moment of truth’ (English). Interview with Emmanuel Macron, Financial Times 14 April 2020. Available at https://www.ft.com/content/317b4f61-672e-4c4b-b816-71e0ff63cab2 (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Manson, P (2020) After the coronavirus crisis, a new struggle against austerity will begin. New Statesman 1 April 2020. Available at https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/economy/2020/04/after-coronavirus-crisis-new-struggle-against-austerity-will-begin (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Marmot, M, Allen, J, Boyce, T, Goldblatt, P and Morrison, J (2020) Health Equality in England: The Marmot Review 10 Years On. London: The Health Foundation.Google Scholar
McCaffrey, D (2020) Analysis: will COVID-19 usher in a new wave of populism in Europe? Euronews 9 July 2020. Available at https://www.euronews.com/2020/06/05/analysis-will-covid-19-usher-in-a-new-wave-of-populism-in-europe (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
McKee, M, Gugushvili, A, Koltai, J and Stuckler, D (2020) Are populist leaders creating the conditions for the spread of COVID-19? International Journal of Health Policy and Management, doi 10.34172/ijhpm.2020.124.Google Scholar
McKinsey Global Institute (2016) Independent Work: Choice, Necessity, and the Gig Economy. US and Europe: McKinsey & Company.Google Scholar
Michell, J (2020) Coronavirus reveals the cost of austerity. Tribune 10 April 2020. Available at https://tribunemag.co.uk/2020/04/coronavirus-reveals-the-cost-of-austerity (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Nava, S, Tonelli, R and Clini, EM (2020) An Italian sacrifice to the COVID-19 epidemic. European Respiratory Journal 55, 2001445; doi: 10.1183/13993003.01445-2020.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neri, S (2019) The Italian health service after the economic crisis: from decentralization to differentiated federalism. In Serapioni, M and Hespanha, P (eds), Crisis, Austerity and Health Inequalities in Southern European Countries. Portugal: Centro De Estudos Socias, pp. 147–169.Google Scholar
New York Times (2020) Europe poised to repeat austerity mistakes in coronavirus. The Editorial Board 8 April 2020. Available at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/opinion/europe-coronavirus.html (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Odendahl, C and Springford, J (2020) Three Ways COVID-19 Will Cause Economic Divergence in Europe. London, Brussels and Berlin: Centre for European Reform.Google Scholar
Palaniappan, A, Dave, U and Gosine, B (2020) Comparing South Korea and Italy’s healthcare systems and initiatives to combat COVID-19. Pan American Journal of Public Health 44, http://doi.org.10.26633/RPSP.2020.53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paterlini, M (2020) On the front lines of coronavirus: the Italian response to COVID-19. British Medical Journal 368: m1065, doi: 10.1136/bmj.m1065.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paulus, P (2020) German politicians don’t talk about the virus like other nations. Here’s what it means. The World Economic Forum COVID Action Platform. Available at https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/coronavirus-pandemic-covid19-germany-politicians-language/ (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Perrigo, B and Hincks, J (2020) Greece has an elderly population and a fragile economy. How has it escaped the worst of the coronavirus so far? Time 23 April 2020. Available at https://time.com/5824836/greece-coronavirus/ (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Pisano, G, Sadun, R and Zanini, M (2020) Lessons from Italy’s response to coronavirus. Harvard Business Review 27 March 2020. Available at https://hbr.org/2020/03/lessons-from-italys-response-to-coronavirus (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Posaner, J and Mischke, J (2020) Angela Merkel: coronavirus ‘biggest test’ yet for EU. Politico 6 April 2020. Available at https://www.politico.eu/article/angela-merkel-coronavirus-biggest-test-yet-eu/ (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Reichlin, L (2020) Everything you need to know about the EU’s 500 billion COVID-19 recovery fund. The World Economic Forum COVID Action Platform. Published on 4 June 2020. Available at https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/european-union-germany-france-proposal/ (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Rodrigues, MJ (2020) An historical breakthrough for the European Union? EU Today 1 June 2020. Available at https://eutoday.net/news/politics/2020/new-entry-1 (accessed 29 January 2021).Google Scholar
Ruser, A and Machin, A (2020) Rally around the flag? The far-right response to Covid-19. Green European Journal 11 September 2020.Google Scholar
Sanfelici, M (2020) The Italian response to the COVID-19 crisis: lessons learned and future direction in social development. The International Journal of Community and Social Development 2(2), 191–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thornton, J (2020) Covid-19: Care homes in Belgium and Spain had ‘alarming living conditions’, says MSF report. British Medical Journal 370, m3271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torri, E, Sbrogio, LG, Rosa, ED, Cinquetti, S, Francia, F and Ferro, A (2020) Italian public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17, 3666, doi: 10.3390/ijerph17103666.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization (2000) The World Health Report 2000 - Health Systems: Improving Performance. Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar