Will Europe be forged in crises?. The impact of the covid-19 and Ukraine crises on EU actorness

REGROUP Research paper nº. 11 (February 2024)

In this paper, we study the effect of crises on EU actorness, defined as the EU’s capacity to defend its interests and values at the global level. Our research focuses on two major crises, the Covid-19 crisis and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Drawing on a process-tracing approach, we analyse four of the Union’s policy initiatives that were proposed, negotiated and implemented to respond to these crises: joint vaccine procurement, common gas purchases, and the COVAX and FARM initiatives. The paper assesses the outcomes of these four initiatives and discusses the extent to which these initiatives led to the development of EU actorness and the achievement of common objectives. The analysis identifies the degree of internal cohesion, and how it is influenced by specific crises, as a key factor in fostering or hampering EU actorness in different policy fields. It also shows that the formal distribution of competences between the EU and the member states in specific policy areas matters little in crisis times, as the EU can resort to emergency competences in such situations. The findings of this paper contribute to the literature on EU actorness and equally provide some insights on policy legacies and learning.