The European Union in the Pandemics: Covid-19 crisis questioning the EU’s raison d’etre and the possible implications for further integration

Abstract

More than sixty years ago, Ernst Haas defined political integration as the process of shifting distinct national political loyalties, activities, and expectations towards a new political centre. Neofunctionalists have considered crises as conducive to integration because these would trigger politicization, which would under the specified conditions, lead to spill-overs of integration into ever more policy sectors. In the last decade, we have been witnessing multiple crises hitting the EU. These crises, like the one triggered by the Covid-19 pandemics, caused different responses by the EU institutions, Member States, and the EU citizens. These responses are inseparable from the question looming around all previous EU crises: what is the EU’s Raison d’etre. The question of purpose has never been posed openly by neo-functionalism nor officially by the EU elites, but it seems unavoidable. Whether this new crisis will end in solving this issue is too early to say. Nevertheless, we seem able to analyze the EU’s responses to this point and to give an estimation of possible consequences for further integration. We argue that initial responses to the Covid-19 crisis have been mixed. The Commission has been pushing for the pro-integrationist solutions by proposing urgent funds and advocating for the EU’s health care sovereignty. The member states, on the other hand, have been challenging the EU’s purpose by the borders closure, re-introduction of the state aid, and prohibition of exports. Another aspect to examine would be the narratives used during the pandemics and the public opinion on the question of solidarity.