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12 EU Health: From pandemic crisis management to a European Health Union?

  • Paulette Kurzer
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The EU under Strain?
This chapter is in the book The EU under Strain?

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic called for a coordinated European response to address the unprecedented global threat to Europe’s health. The European Union in the past fifteen years designed multiple measures and programmes to prepare for such an event. It took action in a range of policy areas such as setting up the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, establishing rules for the joint procurement of medical countermeasures, and strengthening intergovernmental committees to facilitate improved coordination and consultation. Yet when the pandemic struck, many elements of the health security governance regime did not function effectively. In retrospect, the Union’s numerous measures and decisions were nonbinding and were overly reliant on non-mandatory cooperation and coordination. In the early phase of the pandemic, most member states focused on protecting their citizens and ignored collective preparedness and response capacity. This chapter reviews the evolution of EU public health and examines the measures taken to protect the member states from cross-border threats to health. The chapter concludes by exploring the possibilities of creating a genuine European health union in the aftermath of the COVID-19 global health emergency.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic called for a coordinated European response to address the unprecedented global threat to Europe’s health. The European Union in the past fifteen years designed multiple measures and programmes to prepare for such an event. It took action in a range of policy areas such as setting up the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, establishing rules for the joint procurement of medical countermeasures, and strengthening intergovernmental committees to facilitate improved coordination and consultation. Yet when the pandemic struck, many elements of the health security governance regime did not function effectively. In retrospect, the Union’s numerous measures and decisions were nonbinding and were overly reliant on non-mandatory cooperation and coordination. In the early phase of the pandemic, most member states focused on protecting their citizens and ignored collective preparedness and response capacity. This chapter reviews the evolution of EU public health and examines the measures taken to protect the member states from cross-border threats to health. The chapter concludes by exploring the possibilities of creating a genuine European health union in the aftermath of the COVID-19 global health emergency.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Table of Contents v
  3. List of authors ix
  4. Part I: Contextualising the EU and crises
  5. 1 Introduction: The EU under strain 1
  6. 2 Polity attacks and policy failures: The EU polycrisis and integration theory 27
  7. Part II: The legal and democratic fundaments of the EU
  8. 3 Crisis-driven EU reforms in and beyond treaty limits: Is it time for a treaty change? 51
  9. 4 What happened to the idea of ‘Ever Closer Union’? Differentiation as a persistent feature of European integration 77
  10. 5 The difficulty of upholding the rule of law across the European Union: The case of Poland as an illustration of problems the European Union is facing 95
  11. 6 Representation in polycrisis: Towards a new research agenda for EU citizens 115
  12. Part III: The EU in a changing world
  13. 7 After the deluge: Europe, the European Union and crisis in the world arena 133
  14. 8 EU enlargement in times of crisis: Strategic enlargement, the conditionality principle and the future of the “Ever-Closer Union” 155
  15. 9 The EU after Brexit: EU-UK relations and the latent crisis of withdrawal 173
  16. 10 A strained partnership? A typology of tensions in the EU-US transatlantic relationship 191
  17. Part IV: European policy fields shaped by crisis
  18. 11 Consolidating the fortress Europe: Conceptualizations of solidarity in the EU Asylum System governance post-2015 211
  19. 12 EU Health: From pandemic crisis management to a European Health Union? 233
  20. 13 Leader or laggard? Diversity and minority rights in a union under strain 253
  21. 14 The slow-burning climate emergency and the European Green Deal: Prospects and pitfalls in the polycrisis era 275
  22. 15 European economic governance in times of crisis: Solidarity, responsibility, and legitimacy in EU debt mutualisation 293
  23. Index 319
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110790337-013

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Table of Contents v
  3. List of authors ix
  4. Part I: Contextualising the EU and crises
  5. 1 Introduction: The EU under strain 1
  6. 2 Polity attacks and policy failures: The EU polycrisis and integration theory 27
  7. Part II: The legal and democratic fundaments of the EU
  8. 3 Crisis-driven EU reforms in and beyond treaty limits: Is it time for a treaty change? 51
  9. 4 What happened to the idea of ‘Ever Closer Union’? Differentiation as a persistent feature of European integration 77
  10. 5 The difficulty of upholding the rule of law across the European Union: The case of Poland as an illustration of problems the European Union is facing 95
  11. 6 Representation in polycrisis: Towards a new research agenda for EU citizens 115
  12. Part III: The EU in a changing world
  13. 7 After the deluge: Europe, the European Union and crisis in the world arena 133
  14. 8 EU enlargement in times of crisis: Strategic enlargement, the conditionality principle and the future of the “Ever-Closer Union” 155
  15. 9 The EU after Brexit: EU-UK relations and the latent crisis of withdrawal 173
  16. 10 A strained partnership? A typology of tensions in the EU-US transatlantic relationship 191
  17. Part IV: European policy fields shaped by crisis
  18. 11 Consolidating the fortress Europe: Conceptualizations of solidarity in the EU Asylum System governance post-2015 211
  19. 12 EU Health: From pandemic crisis management to a European Health Union? 233
  20. 13 Leader or laggard? Diversity and minority rights in a union under strain 253
  21. 14 The slow-burning climate emergency and the European Green Deal: Prospects and pitfalls in the polycrisis era 275
  22. 15 European economic governance in times of crisis: Solidarity, responsibility, and legitimacy in EU debt mutualisation 293
  23. Index 319
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