“COVID-19 and the European Union: Crisis and Response” by Scott L Greer (University of Michigan), is available now! Read the newest in the EU Policy Briefs series here.
Dr. Greer provides important insights into the EU’s challenges when it responded to the needs of its member states during the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. The EU’s primary focus on economic integration expanded to managing an overwhelming health emergency. There was success in establishing a shared procurement and vaccine strategy and a new EU preparedness agency.
In the policy brief, he describes the three faces of the EU’s health policy. From public health coordination, patients’ rights and e-health initiatives to the market to fiscal governance, he focuses on how COVID-19 changed the EU’s health policy. Additionally, he suggests it is the third face, fiscal governance, to watch in the future. As member states move forward through the pandemic in the next few years, it is unclear if the funding and commitment by member states will continue for the EU’s health policy.
About the author
Dr. Greer is Professor of Health Management and Politics, Global Public Health and Political Science at the University of Michigan. He is Senior Expert Advisor on Health Governance to the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels. His books include the edited Coronavirus Politics: The Comparative Politics and Policies of COVID-19 (2021) (open access link here) and Everything you always wanted to know about European Union health policy but were afraid to ask (third edition, Oct. 2021). He was a guest presenter for a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence webinar earlier this year in June.
EU Policy Talks Series
As part of the EU Policy Talk series, the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence publishes a series of policy briefs. Written by experts and scholars, the briefs address prominent policy issues facing the EU-Canada relationship. You can read more EU Policy Briefs in the series here.
The Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at Carleton University is supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and by Carleton University.