Abstract
COVID-19 presented Europe with an, in many respects, unprecedented challenge. While the virus proved itself to be transnational in nature, not taking heed of borders, government responses were largely national. Still, governments soon found themselves engaged in complex multi-level policy cooperation at the national, subnational, and supranational levels. This paper looks at the crisis response in the Low Countries (Belgium and the Netherlands) to understand the impact of this process on the political system. We argue that efficient multi-level policy cooperation in both countries has run up against the limits of existing institutions, leading to significant political grievances. In Belgium, slow negotiation between the central and regional governments has put the federal system in question. In the Netherlands, meanwhile, the absence of European institutions tasked with fiscal policy coordination has increased the salience of the EU fiscal sphere once again.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 305-317 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | European Policy Analysis |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 18 Nov 2020 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2020 |
Funding
Given the government's initial stance and the position of the Dutch parliament, it should come as no surprise that Rutte and Hoekstra were displeased with and outright rejected the plan of Merkel and Macron for a €750 billion European investment that would be partly financed by the issuing of common bonds at EU level. However, Rutte and the other “frugals” (Austria, Denmark, and Sweden) compromised to support the second EU deal on July 21, which includes grants and loans, partly financed by jointly issued bonds. Notably, the frugal countries did not support the program before grants were cut from €500 billion to €390 and before budget rebates were reinstated. 28 29
Keywords
- COVID-19
- EU
- federalism
- Low Countries
- policy coordination
