The pandemic crisis and the European Union

"This book assesses the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic for the European Union, 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"--

Cover -- Half Title -- Series Information -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Introduction: COVID-19 and the European Union - Is this Time Really for Bad? -- I.1 Introduction -- I.2 Rationale of the Book -- I.3 Structure of the Book -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 1 A Crisis Beyond the Crisis -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Crisis and Reform: Paths of Continuity and Discontinuity -- 1.3 What Does this Crisis Have in Common With Previous Ones? A Comparison With the Eurozone and the Migration Crises -- 1.4 What Sets the Pandemic Apart? Symmetry and Cooperation -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 2 Political and Institutional Analysis of the Crisis -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 From a Far-Off Health Problem to a Crisis Within Europe -- 2.3 Early National Cacophony: the Politics of 'Everyman for Himself' -- 2.4 The Central Stage for EU Institutions: From National Unilateralism to European Response -- 2.5 Assessing Change: the Proposals to Enhance EU Preparedness and Response Capacity -- Conclusions -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 3 An Economic Analysis of the Pandemic Crisis -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 The Impact On GDP, Inflation and Unemployment -- 3.3 The Impact On Public Finances -- 3.4 The Economic Policy Reaction of the European Union -- 3.5 The Political Economy of the Pandemic Crisis: Is There a Place for a Normative Assessment? -- 3.6 Conclusions -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 4 Security or securitisation: Border controls as a setback for European integration? -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Freedom of Movement as a Cornerstone of European Citizens' Way of Life -- 4.3 Dilemmas of COVID-19 Securitisation -- 4.4 Reopen Europe: De-Securitisation in Place? -- 4.5 Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic: the 'Pandemicisation' of Border Controls and the Idea of Security Over Freedom? -- 4.6 Conclusions -- Notes.