Brussels in hard times: the EU's executive deficit

Today’s European Union (EU) finds itself in a permanent crisis mode – crises appear no longer sequentially and time distant but overlap and reinforce each other and even interact. If, as Jean Monnet put it, Europe will be forged in crises and as the sum of the solutions adopted for those crises, it is also true that multiple, major crises affecting the EU at the same time do not only stretch but risk to overwhelm its crisis response capacity. Yet, the EU needs to successfully address those crises to deliver results for its citizens and hold the ‘club’ together. There is also demand for some soul- and identity-searching, with a shared identity and values assuming special importance for facilitating collective action and leaps forward in times of crisis, such as at present, when the EU faces the need to stand by its values amidst Russia’s war on Ukraine while pursuing its main objectives and its current priorities for 2019-24, most notably the European Green Deal (EGD). Both – addressing multiple challenges and a shared identity – are fundamental for making the EU more resilient to shocks and European integration sustainable (and with a purpose) over time. And they are related.