Schmidt Publishes OpEd on EU’s Response to COVID-19
Vivien Schmidt, Professor of International Relations and Jean Monnet Chair of European Integration at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, recently published an OpEd for Social Europe on the European Union’s response to the coronavirus. Schmidt argues their response is similar to that of the eurozone crisis in 2010.
Schmidt argues that, “The European Union must manifest real solidarity in response to the coronavirus crisis. Muddling through will not do.” Titled “The EU responds to the coronavirus: déjà vu all over again?” the opinion was published on March 23, 2020, and can be read in full here.
From the text of the article:
Every EU institution needs to act in concert, and to do more, for real solidarity across Europe. The union risks recession, or worse, while individual countries, such as Italy, risk bankruptcy. The European Council needs to come to agreement on major assistance funds, co-ordinated by the European Commission, to supplement what individual countries have been promising to spend to shore up their economies and support their citizens in this time of need.
Where will the money come from? Time to deploy the ECB to provide ‘helicopter money’ for households across the eurozone and to issue ‘orange bonds’ to underwrite current health-related national spending. That is in addition to the recently discussed (though still a pipe-dream) ‘green bonds’ for climate change.
Vivien A. Schmidt is Professor of International Relations and Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and was the first Director of BU’s Center for the Study of Europe, housed at the Pardee School. Her latest books include the forthcoming Europe’s Crisis of Legitimacy: Governing by Rules and Ruling by Numbers in the Eurozone (2019), Resilient Liberalism in Europe’s Political Economy (co-edited, 2013), Debating Political Identity and Legitimacy in the European Union (co-edited, 2011), Democracy in Europe (2006) and The Futures of European Capitalism (2002). She was recently named a Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor.