Learning from the Euro-crisis. A new method of government for the European Union’s economic policy coordination after the pandemic

Has the European Union been able to learn from the experience of the euro crisis to shape its response to the economic consequences of the pandemic? This article aims to show that an effective learning process was set in motion in the aftermath of the pandemic emergency, although it looks still incomplete. To address the economic consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak and drawing on lessons from the euro crisis, a new method of government has been forged through the NextGenerationEU. Grounded in a creative interpretation of legal foundations and shaped by a process that is both national and European, involving domestic and supranational institutions, the governance of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) unfolds through the setting of EU-wide priorities, their articulation in national medium-term, performance-based plans, and continuous monitoring by the Commission to ensure compliance with multiple conditionality regimes. The first years of implementation of the RRF have proved successful not only for the use of the Fund by the member states but also for the spread of the RRF method of government in other areas of EU law, including the European Semester, REPowerEU, and the revised Stability and Growth Pact, despite the uncertainties surrounding the temporary nature of the instrument and some weaknesses in terms of democratic accountability.