The EU beyond Brexit and Covid-19: The Conference on the Future for Europe and the Outlook for Integration

Abstract:The article examines the state of European integration in the aftermath of Brexit and the outburst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The article argues that the European Union (EU) has both faced centripetal and centrifugal pulls since 2020. On the one hand, the article discusses the federalising effects that the economic responses to Covid-19—and notably the launch of Next Generation EU—have had on integration. On the other hand, the article identifies ongoing challenges for the EU, notably resulting from the rule of law crisis. The article argues that these trends result from institutional dynamics at play in the EU, and suggests that further constitutional reforms will be needed to address these. As such, the article concludes by reflecting on the potentials and perils of the Conference on the Future of Europe to relaunch the EU after Brexit and Covid-19.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License. Open Access funding provided by IReL.