Fighting back? The role of the European Parliament in the adoption of Next Generation EU

The article aims to assess how and why the EP played the role of EU democratic institution par excellence in the procedures leading to the adoption of the antipandemic measures from February 2020 till February 2021: Which arguments has the EP sought to advance in the various stages, for what reasons, and how successful it was? Indeed, while it is undeniable that certain contextual elements – the nature of the crisis, the creation of EU debt and the EU competences affected – did play a role in the advancement of the EP’s agenda, it is argued here that in the aftermath of the pandemic the EP has managed to become more aware of its own institutional role compared to the previous financial crisis and to present itself as a truly supranational institution representing the whole European citizenry and committed to improving the transparency and the democratic accountability of the EU budgetary procedures.