The COVID-19 crisis could lead to a wider rethink of Europe’s political economy. This paper explores what such a model might look like, and what it would mean for the governance of the European Union.
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a health and economic crisis without modern parallel. In a matter of months, the virus has spread to almost every country and territory in the world, killing more than 400,000 people, profoundly disrupting the lives of millions, and leading to an almost complete shutdown of large sectors of the global economy. The world is now in an economic recession of unprecedented depth, unique character and uncertain duration. After locking down citizens and banning domestic and international travel, governments around the world have taken extraordinary steps to mitigate economic impacts, including providing enormous monetary and fiscal support to businesses and employees.1
Europe has been hit both early and hard by the crisis. In a short space of time, the reach of the European state has grown enormously as governments have taken on new and remarkable roles both in providing economic relief and in regulating and restricting the private lives of citizens. In Germany, France and Italy alone, this has included more than €418 billion in direct fiscal measures (such as paying worker wages), €963 billion in deferrals (such as postponed tax payments), and €1.8 trillion in liquidity (such as credit lines and guarantees),2 while the European Commission has proposed a recovery fund of €750 billion, composed of grants and loans.
We do not know yet the full effects of the pandemic, or how long these will last. But there has been much discussion about whether the scale of the crisis, and the response to it, could prompt a far-reaching re-evaluation of the role of the state in relation to the market. Could the crisis galvanize demands for different ways of organizing economic life from the ones that have predominated since the end of the Cold War – in short, could COVID-19 herald a substantially new model of political economy in Europe?
Beyond the extraordinary scale of national and EU-level economic recovery policies, there are signs of a broader shift in attitudes. President Emmanuel Macron of France has identified the need to remake capitalism and strengthen national and European ‘economic sovereignty’ by investing at home in the medical and high-tech sectors.3 The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, wants to address the overconcentration of the market for protective items in Asia by introducing a degree of sovereignty, both national and European, in this area.4 The Spanish government has passed a guaranteed minimum-income scheme to protect the most vulnerable households and foster social and labour inclusion,5 following other European states that have either introduced or piloted relevant measures at national or regional level. The Economist magazine expects a new economic settlement, while the Financial Times has called for one.6 These moves suggest that beyond the immediate crisis response, COVID-19 could lead to a wider rethink of Europe’s political economy.
This research paper explores what such a model might look like, and what it would mean for the governance of the European Union. It is intended not as a forecast but as a thought experiment that examines the consequences of a change in Europe’s political economy and the potential implications for the European project. It argues that, in the absence of consensus, current EU rules and structures could constrain the ability of member states to effect significant reform. This could lead to policy clashes between member states, as well as between member states and EU institutions, that go beyond much-discussed issues around risk-sharing in the eurozone. The danger is that the EU could now be trapped in a suboptimal status quo without a consensus about how to move forward – and could therefore be unable to make the shift towards a more state-centric political economy that citizens may now demand.
1 At the time of writing, European countries are starting to ease their lockdowns and reopen parts of their economies. However, activity in many sectors remains suspended or dramatically curtailed, and the prospects of anything like a return to pre-coronavirus levels of economic activity – without risking renewed spikes in infection – remain extremely low for the time being.
2 Anderson, J., Bergamini, E., Brekelmans, S., Cameron, A., Darvas, Z., Jíménez, M. D. and Midões, C. (2020), ‘The fiscal response to the economic fallout from the coronavirus’, Bruegel Datasets blog, https://www.bruegel.org/publications/datasets/covid-national-dataset/ (correct as of 27 May 2020).
3 Mallet, V. and Khalaf, R. (2020), ‘Transcript: ‘We are at a moment of truth’ (English)’, interview with Emmanuel Macron, Financial Times, 17 April 2020, https://on.ft.com/3dfjPOn.
4 Posaner, J. and Mischke, J. (2020), ‘Angela Merkel: Coronavirus ‘biggest test’ yet for EU’, Politico, 6 April 2020, https://www.politico.eu/article/angela-merkel-coronavirus-biggest-test-yet-eu/.
5 Gómez, M. V. (2020), ‘Spain to approve guaranteed minimum income scheme for vulnerable families’, El País, 29 May 2020, https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-05-29/spain-to-approve-guaranteed-minimum-income-scheme-for-vulnerable-families.html.
6 The Economist (2020), ‘Rich countries try radical economic policies to counter covid-19’, The Economist, 26 March 2020, https://www.economist.com/briefing/2020/03/26/rich-countries-try-radical-economic-policies-to-counter-covid-19; and Financial Times (2020), ‘Virus lays bare the frailty of the social contract’, Opinion: The FT View, 3 April 2020, https://www.ft.com/content/7eff769a-74dd-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca.