European Response to Covid 19 Pandemic – Legal Framework and Lessons for the Future

Gasmi, Gordana and Grahovac, Momir (2021) European Response to Covid 19 Pandemic – Legal Framework and Lessons for the Future. Fiat Iustitita (1). pp. 86-98. ISSN 1224-4015

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Abstract

The study analyzes legal and strategic constraints of the European Union (EU) response during Covid-19 pandemic. First lesson to be learnt is the legal limitation of the EU’s competence in the field of public health protection that causes relative inefficient reaction of the EU institutions during pandemic. Second lesson lies in inadequate application of the solidarity clause at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, exactly at the time of marking the 70th anniversary of Schuman's declaration. On the one hand, there is a lack of powers at the EU level, given its coordinating competence. On the other hand, there was a noticeable lack of solidarity among the EU Member States, solidarity which is legally established in the provisions of the Lisbon EU Treaty. There is a battle between the role of the state with its sovereignty and the concept of europeanization of pandemic supression, which proved to be prevalently unsuccessful. Some Member States, especially Romania and Hungary as well, performed an efficient approach to immunisation of their population, separate from the EU institutions. Successful example of Serbia, European candidate country, in mass vaccination of its inhabitants points to the fact that the state is primarily responsible in the field of public health. However, the advantage of the EU in the fight against pandemic is in the weakness of national approach to pandemic prevention, bearing in mind its global character. Hence the need to reform the EU legal framework and strengthen the political will of the EU members for deeper cohesion and coordination of public health protection measures. This would strengthen the EU's role in international co-operation in preventing and controlling possible future pandemic threats and in contributing to the European and global health security.

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