Ε.Ε. Μέτρα και αποτελεσματικότητα αυτών στην αντιμετώπιση της πανδημίας. (Sure, ΕΤΕΠ, ΕΕ, ΕΚΤ)

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic that broke out in China in early 2020 spread rapidly around the world and caused an unprecedented global health crisis. The pandemic spread with particular intensity to Europe which soon became the epicenter of the infection. In an effort to stem the spread of the disease, most countries have imposed strict measures to curb social and economic activity. From an economic point of view, the global pandemic with the pressure it exerts directly on the health systems and the budgets of States as well as indirectly with the measures taken to deal with it, will have very serious consequences on the world economy. The majority of analysts state that the consequences will be more serious than the financial crisis of 2008 and according to several of them even more serious than the Great Crisis of 1929 (IMF Apr. 2020). In order to address the risk of economic collapse, many countries have announced and implemented unprecedented measures to support their economies. In addition to measures at national levels, both the financial institutions and the European Union's fiscal and monetary policy actors have announced measures which are considered to be the most ambitious since the Union’s inception. In the context of this analysis, the economic policy measures that the European institutions have or intend to implement are presented and an attempt is made to study their intensity, appropriateness and effectiveness in dealing with the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. More specifically, the analysis is structured in three parts. First, through the study of the announced measures, an attempt is made to evaluate the European Union's ability to move in a timely and effective manner, to cover the institutional shortcomings revealed by the crisis and to proceed to a greater degree of integration. Then, an attempt is made to analyze the institutional footprint of the crises in the European edifice and what possible institutional form the EU will have at the end of the current crisis. Finally, the analysis focuses on the very concept of European integration and an attempt is made to evaluate it in terms of economic efficiency. Methodologically, primary and secondary literature, articles by independent researchers and studies of international organizations and think tanks were used for the present research. Given that at the time of writing (August 2020) the pandemic is in full swing and the ensuing financial crisis is in its early stages, the following analysis and forecasts involve a high degree of uncertainty and are based on an intermediate scenario, ruling out both the pessimistic possibility of a severe relapse of the pandemic and the optimistic of finding a safe and effective vaccine.