Can the European Union survive the coronavirus crisis?

Andreas Hofmann (Freie Universität Berlin), Jonathan Polk (University of Copenhagen) and Adriana Bunea (UiB). Moderator: Raimondas Ibenskas (UiB).

The Eurozone crisis, migration “crisis”, the rise of illiberal governments in East-Central Europe and Brexit are only some of the crises that the European Union has faced in the past decade. The COVID-19 pandemic represents yet another fundamental challenge to the EU. In the words of the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, “Europe’s future is at stake in this war against coronavirus”.

This webinar examines how the pandemic has affected the EU and how the EU and member states responded to it. How can the tensions between the North and South on economic recovery measures be resolved? Will the coronavirus crisis lead to a fiscal union in the EU? What are the effects of the crisis on populist parties and the on-going Brexit process?

The webinar will also provide an opportunity for the participants to make suggestions for questions in the flash wave of the Chapel Hill expert survey on how European political parties responded to the crisis. More information on the expert survey, including the 2019 wave of the survey to be released on the 2nd of June, is available here: https://www.chesdata.eu/

Join the webinar on Zoom or on our YouTube channel. 
You can ask questions in the Q&A on Zoom or on YouTube. 

Andreas Hofmann is a researcher at Freie Universität Berlin and a member of the Center for European Integration at the Otto Suhr Institute for Political Science. His primary research interest is the role of courts in political processes and judicial procedures as a mode of solving political conflicts, particularly in relation to the European Court of Justice. He has extensive experience in teaching on European Union politics, with a special emphasis on its political system, integration theory, and the political economy of market integration and the eurozone

Jonathan Polk is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen. His teaching and research interests include political parties, European politics, representation, and political participation in economically advanced democracies. Jonathan is a member of the Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHES) research group, which administers web-based surveys to estimate the positions of political party leadership in Europe.

Adriana Bunea is an Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen. Her research examines the role of stakeholder consultations and interest groups in EU politics and policymaking, the design and reform of lobbying regulatory schemes and the dynamics of Better Regulation politics. She is a Principal Investigator on the European Research Council Starting Grant CONSULTATIONEFFECTS.

Raimondas Ibenskas is an Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen. His research and teaching interests include party politics and European Union politics.