Center for European Studies

The covid-19 pandemic has had a severe impact on Europe. While not all EU member states have suffered equally, none has been spared social and economic hardship either. Early on, national impulses led to border closures and export restrictions on medical supplies.

Nevertheless, even in the earliest days of Europe’s exposure to the novel coronavirus, pan-European solidarity was on display. Individual acts of solidarity paved the way for donations of hundreds of thousands of protective masks and other medical supplies to those countries most affected. The institutions of the European Union eventually assumed a critical role in coordinating Europe’s response to the crisis. And as discussions shifted toward economic recovery after months of lockdown measures and restrictions on cross-border trade and travel, different proposals emerged for how to kickstart Europe’s economies and return to something approaching normal life.

What does European solidarity look like during this pandemic? How have European citizens perceived and contributed to European solidarity? What might the crisis mean for the future of the European project? In this talk, Rafael Loss, the coordinator for pan-European data projects at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), will discuss the European Solidarity Tracker, an interactive online tool that collects and visualises instances of pan-European solidarity during the covid-19 crisis.