| Abstract [eng] |
Over the last decade, the European Union has faced with three crisis, which have had a different impact on the integration of the Union. The eurozone crisis has contributed to further integration, and the refugee crisis has had the opposite effect. The latest crisis is COVID-19, which is an unprecedented crisis that has affected all EU countries and has caused not only economic difficulties but also the problems in the health sector. This crisis has forced countries to look for new, coordinated decisions, which would help to overcome the difficulties. The COVID-19 crisis has led to unilateral national decisions and new joint decisions at EU level. In order to manage the crisis unilateral national decisions have been faced with as well as new joint decisions taken at EU level, various proposals were made during the crisis and the new decisions taken have sparked a new debate on the impact of this crisis on further EU integration. The main object of the work is the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The work problem whether the European Council agreement will be a "Hamilton moment" and a significant step that will strengthen the Union and will lead towards further integration whether it will be a one-off decision, as the Marshall Plan which will have only a temporary impact and will not push the European Union towards deeper integration. The aim of this work is to describe how the European Union and its countries have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, to evaluate whether based on past crisis management experience and the variables proposed by theories, currently there are conditions for the crisis caused by the pandemic to be pushed towards a significant deepening of integration. Tasks: 1) based on the analysis of scientific literature, to define and analyze the main theories analyzing the impact of crises on European integration; 2) to present as previous crises - the euro area ant the refugee crisis, explains the prevailing integration theories and to determine the conditions that led to deeper integration of the Union during these crises and which hindered further progress; 3) to present the most important elements of the “Hamilton Moment” and compare to the decisions taken by the European Council to manage the COVID-19 crisis; 4) to analyze the agreement of the European Council on COVID-19 crisis management, unilateral action by the countries of the European Union and based on integration theories and an analysis of the crises of the last decade to determine whether the conditions which are in place to push the European Union towards deeper integration, i.e. the creation of a fiscal union. The results obtained from the analysis of the COVID-19 crisis management period from 2020 until April 2021, shows that the EU's response to the COVID-19 crisis is characterized by both a temporary solution and a push for integration. The crisis has led to unilateral solutions, with a remaining potential for politicization, however agreement has been reached on "Next Generation EU" and the budget, actions taken by the European Commission on the centralized purchase of vaccines, job preservation, medical supplies, economic mitigation and the creation of a European Health Union, mean that the management of COVID-19 crisis has features that suggest that the decisions taken should push the EU towards deeper integration. The European Council agreement has the characteristics of a "Hamilton moment", but the EU has not reached a "Hamilton moment". Further impact on EU integration will depend on the preferences of the states of the Union, the further interdependence between states, the bargaining power, the further potential for politicization and the actions of supranational actors. |
