From the Pandemic to the War: The EU Fiscal Response to Russia's Aggression of Ukraine, the Legacy of NGEU, and the Challenge to “Promote the General Welfare”

Abstract

As the European Union (EU) was slowly re-emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, it faced another unprecedented shock: Russia's large-scale military invasion of Ukraine. In responding to Russia's invasion, however, the EU was able to build on the legal and policy measures that it had developed to address the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, NextGenerationEU (NGEU) and the use of common debt provided a template that the EU could use to mobilize financial resources to support Ukraine against Russia's aggression.