The EU’s reaction in the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic between centralisation and decentralisation, formality and informality

ABSTRACT

The Covid-19 pandemic is a multi-faceted crisis that challenges not only the health systems and other policy sub-systems in the single Member States, but also the European Union’s ability to provide policy responses that address the transnational nature of pandemic control as a union-wide ‘public good’ that affects health and social policies, border control and security as well as topics related to the single market. Thus, the pandemic constitutes a veritable capacity test for the EU integration project.

This article attempts to take stock of the Union’s early reaction to the first wave of the Covid-19 outbreak. After an introduction and a short note on the scope and methodology of the analysis a theoretical framework is developed. Scrutinising the pertinent literature on crisis management, we reflect the traditional hypothesis that in times of crisis the centre becomes more relevant against the background of the EU crisis management system, and discuss the role of informality in particular during the time of crisis. Against this backdrop, empirical evidence from interviews with EU officials and documents in selected policy fields (health and emergency management, digitalisation, and economic recovery) are analysed, before a discussion and conclusion complete the study.

KEYWORDS:

• Crisis management
• European Union
• informality
• centralisation
• Covid-19

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We understand the concept of ‘power’ as control over (political) outcomes (Dür and Bièvre (2007).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rahel M. Schomaker

Rahel M. Schomaker completed a PhD in Economic Policy, and a Habilitation in Economics and Public Administration. Currently she is a professors for economics and public administration at WSB Poland and CUAS Villach, an adjunct professor at the German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer as well as a senior fellow at the German Research Institute for Public Administration. Her main research interests concern administrative change, formal and informal public sector cooperations and networks, crisis governance (with a specific view also to multi-level and transnational issues) and trust. She is currently involved in several research projects funded e.g. under the EU Horizon-2020 program. Her work has appeared in leading Public Administration and Economics outlets, and she serves as a senior advisor for administrative reform for the OECD, the EU and different national governments.

Marko Hack

Marko Hack, M.A., is a research associate at the German Research Institute for Public Administration Speyer and a doctoral candidate at the German University for Administrative Sciences. His main research fields include EU economic integration, democratic backsliding and formal and informal processes through which authoritarian politics are institutionalized. He has a special interest on countries in Southeast Europe, particularly the Western Balkans.

Ann-Katrin Mandry

Ann-Katrin Mandry, M.A., is a research associate at the German Research Institute for Public Administration Speyer and a doctoral candidate at the German University for Administrative Sciences. Her research interests concern the nature and evaluation of informal modes of action in the European multi-level system as well as the assertiveness of Member State administrations in formal and informal European negotiation arenas. She has obtained a bachelor’s degree in European Studies and a master’s degree in Governance and Public Policy, focusing mainly on comparative politics (especially France), European integration, philosophy of peace, and international and European law during her studies at the University of Passau and at Sciences Po Strasbourg.