European Coronationalism? A Hot Spot Governing a Pandemic Crisis

The COVID-19 crisis has shown that European countries still remain poorly prepared for dealing and coping with health crises and for responding in a coordinated way to a severe influenza pandemic. Within the EU, the response to the COVID-19 virus has a striking diversity in its approach. By focusing on Belgium, France, Germany and Italy, four countries which represent different models of administrative systems in Europe, the analysis shows that major similarities and convergences have become apparent from a cross-countries perspective. Moreover, coping with the crises has been first and foremost an issue of the national states whereas the European voice has been weak. Hence, the countries' immediate responses has appeared to be Corona-nationalistic, which we label as Coronationalism. The paper shows to what extent the four countries adopted different crisis management strategies and which factors explain this variance, with a special focus on their institutional settings and administrative systems. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.