The Pandemic Crisis and the European Union

This book assesses the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for the European Union (EU), as well as its response in dealing with an overarching, multidimensional crisis with consequences extending beyond public health safety to political, economic, legal, and institutional arenas. It argues the pandemic represents a symmetric crisis cutting across countries with different social, economic and political characteristics and which yet - despite favouring cooperative solutions at the supranational level - has largely been met with initial responses of a national, even local, nature. So, how well did the EU perform as a crisis manager in the pandemic crisis? This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and readers of crisis, pandemic and health management, European Union politics and governance.

Paulo Vila Maior is Associate Professor of European Studies at the University Fernando Pessoa and Researcher at CEPESE, Porto, Portugal. Isabel Camisão is Assistant Professor in European Studies at the University of Coimbra, and Researcher at CICP, Braga and Évora, Portugal.

Introduction - Covid-19 and The European Union: Is This Time Really for Bad? 1. A Crisis Beyond the Crisis 2. Political and Institutional Analysis of the Crisis 3. An Economic Analysis of the Pandemic Crisis 4. Security or Securitisation: Border Controls as a Setback for European Integration? 5. Humanitarian Emergency and the European Union: Solidarity, Leadership, and National Reassurance 6. Constitutionalising the State of Exception: Implications for Citizenship. Conclusion - The European Union as Crisis Manager in the Pandemics: Good but not Great