The European Union’s response to the Covid pandemic

“Today we face our very defining moment (…) our unique model built over 70 years is being challenged like never before in our lifetime or in our Union’s history” said the Commission’s President Ursula Van der Leyen on May 27th in front of the European Parliament in Brussels (Van der Leyen, Speech in front of the European Parlament, 2020). While the Corona Virus crisis hits the European continent, all eyes turn towards the Union and its response to the pandemic challenges as well as social and economic impacts. Almost a year after the first Covid-19 restrictions appeared in Italy, spreading quickly to the rest of the Union, the question remains: has the EU done enough?

The European response on a sanitary level

The European Union has only a support competence regarding public health and can therefore only complete the national policies. The European Union benefits in this undertaking of a large range of actions in various areas described in article 168 TFEU, such as “early warning of and combating serious cross-border threats to health”. Thus, the EU seemed qualified to respond to the Covid threat, and it did.

The EU has diverse modes of operation regarding health matters. Among them, the EU’s action concerning health crisis, which falls under a European decision of 2013 (No 2119/98/EC) concerning cross-borders threats for health. This decision foresees two key mechanisms (Marchais, 2020). The first one is the European Early Warning System on “serious cross-border” threats, which permits the member states to send alerts concerning events that could impact the entire Union. The second one is the Health Security Committee, which is in charge of the European sanitary coordination. Moreover, the European Union disposes of a Health program action for the period 2014-2020, including the joint acquisition of vaccines (European Commission, s.d.).

All these mechanisms and others were engaged in the early stages of the pandemic. Furthermore, the European Commission worked for the smooth circulation of the medical equipment in the entire Union. Indeed, while the member state’s leaders removed their import fees to facilitate the exchanges of sanitary equipment, Bruxelles has contributed 75% to the transport costs to fluidify the circulation of the essential medicinal material (Fernández, 2021). Recently, the European Commission’s president Ursula Van der Leyen has made a proposition of a common color code based on standard criteria to distinguish “safe” European countries from the ones at sanitary risks, to clarify and simplify the travel rules in the Union and therefore protect our four freedoms of movement (European Commission, 2021).

Sadly, where the Union tried to give a commune response to a global crisis, the member states have withdrawn into themselves: internal borders were closed, France extended the list of medicines banned from the export, including materials like artificial respirators, when some European neighbor states were cruelly lacking it (Blanquet, 2020).

Can we honestly say that the European Union failed its public health support competence towards member states?

The European response on an economic level

In July 2020, the heads of the EU member states finally agreed, after one of its longest negotiation process to date, on a recovery plan for Europe to face the dramatic consequences of the Covid crisis.

The recovery plan, named next generation EU, is worth 750 billion euros - a never-before-seen amount (European Commission, 2020) for the Union. It will “sit on the top of the EU budget” (Van der Leyen, Speech in Front of the European Parlement, 2020). The plan includes subventions and loans. The subventions will be given thanks to a joint indebtedness by all the member states of the EU. The two most affected European countries (Italy and Spain) will benefit from a great number of subventions from the EU. The loans will be reimbursed by the demanding country alone (Viepublique.fr, 2021).

However, these aids will not be granted unconditionally. One of the conditions to access the Union’s funds will require the member state to allocate at least 37% of its budget for climate measures and at least 20% for digital transformation (Viepublique.fr, 2021). The Union used this great recovery plan as an opportunity like Ursula Van der Leyen addressed it, “to put the foundations for a neutral climate union” and to evolve towards a “greener, more digital and more resilient Europe” (Van der Leyen, Speech in front of the European Parlament, 2020).

Moreover, facing the difficulties to implement the procedure of article 7 TUE towards countries who violate the rule of law, the European Union decided that a second condition to the granting of EU funds will be the respect of the rule of law and the Union’s fundamentals values (Viepublique.fr, 2021).

The President of the European Council Charles Michel welcomed the decision saying that: “For the first time in European history, the budget is linked to climate objectives, for the first time, respect for the rule of law becomes a condition for the granting of funds" (Michel, 2020).

Has the EU done enough then? Without any doubt, the European Union made great efforts to support the member states and help rebuild the Union's economy. The situation has shown that turning in on oneself is not productive, and that states must work together to fight the crisis. In unprecedented times when the “community ship” is pitching dangerously, such a solidarity impulse highlights the Union's strengths and provides hope in the future of the European project.

Bibliography

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Van der Leyen, U. (2020, May 27). Speech in front of the European Parlament. Bruxelles. Retrieved from European Commission: https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/recovery-plan-europe_en

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