The European Union and the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the European Union (EU) as hard as its member states and created the prospect of unforeseen major changes in Union politics and policies. This Section invites panels and papers that explore how the Union has responded to the pandemic and examine its political, institutional and policy implications and longer-term consequences. We seek contributions that analyse how political and institutional factors have shaped EU responses during the crisis. We are equally interested in research that examines change in EU politics and decision-making as a result of the crisis. This includes work on how the crisis has affected executive–legislative relations in the Union, the use of experts, expertise and advisory councils or accountability in EU crisis decision-making. The section aims to examine change spurred by the pandemic across different policy domains, such as, e.g., the internal market, economic policies, and in the financing of the EU (notably Next Generation EU). We hope to attract work on public health policy, including the question of whether we witness the emergence of a European Health Union. Contributions on the interactions between the EU and its member states in addressing the pandemic are welcome. The Section welcomes work from different theoretical and methodological traditions.