Assessment Of EU’ Economic and Health Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic Within the Framework of Liberal Intergovernmentalism And Neofunctionalism Theoretical Approaches

Abstract

The principle aim of this article is to analyze EU’s response to the covid-19 pandemic within the ambit of measures incorporated to tackle the economic fallout and health-related problems. The article makes use of two important theories of European integration, i.e., liberal intergovernmentalism and neofunctionalism in its explanatory capacity to describe actions taken by both the member states and the supranational institutions in mitigating the adverse effects of the pandemic. The article argues that while no one theory completely explains the European response to the pandemic, both the theories offer different perspectives in how the EU member states reacted, within the power of their national capabilities and the collective response measures initiated at the level of EU supranational institutions.

Keywords

• liberal intergovernmentalism
• neofunctionalism
• eu
• covid-19
• european integration