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 state
