Overconfidence, Mismanagement and the COVID-19 Disaster in the European Union

Abstract

This research article examines the cause of the coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic in the European Union during January–March 2020, after the pandemic first started in China in the end of 2019. Our findings show that both national governments and EU leaders perceived the novel coronavirus as a long-distance threat and, therefore, no preparations in the healthcare system were taken. Accordingly, when the virus spread rapidly in all 27 EU countries within a short period of time, most governments suddenly realized a serious lack of medical staff, national stockpiles of medical equipment, and intensive care beds. To cope with the unprecedented cross-border health threat, member countries failed to react jointly but unilaterally imposed different and conflicting national measures. When lockdowns swept across Europe, they also affected state relations as well as the functioning of core EU projects, especially the European single market and the free movement under the Schengen Agreement. The EU initially showed a discreet involvement in the crisis management due to its limited power in the public health area. However, the EU began to play a greater role after the second half of March, when member countries eventually realized the need for crisis management at the European level. Like in the past, the health crisis once again caused bitter divisions between member countries when facing with cross-border crisis. The apparent lack of solidarity in the highly interdependent union thus remains the major problem in most EU crisis management.