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European Union, 2020 08 Malone article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 15:06 Page 97 Administration, vol. 69, no. 1 (2021), pp. 97–109 doi: 10.2478/admin-2021-0008 European Union, 2020 Margaret Mary Malone Institute of Public Administration, Ireland The year was defined by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, which unleashed a public health crisis and an associated economic crisis unlike anything experienced in modern times in Europe and beyond. The disease triggered a combined negative supply and demand shock of unprecedented intensity and the EU entered unchartered territory. National and regional serial lockdowns were introduced in a bid to curb the spread of Covid-19 and avoid health systems becoming overwhelmed. In a show of solidarity commensurate with the unfolding economic emergency, EU member states agreed a financial stimulus package of some €1.8 trillion to rebuild the battered EU economy. The package comprised the EU’s budget, or Multi- annual Financial Framework (MFF), for the period 2021–7 plus a temporary novel recovery instrument, Next Generation EU (NGEU). Funds for NGEU are to be borrowed, exceptionally, by the European Commission on the international capital markets. This decision was a landmark departure for the EU. Developments in the institutions of the EU On 1 January Croatia began its presidency of the Council of the EU for six months. A member state since July 2013, this was the first time Croatia had presided over the Council. Its priorities were driven by an unwittingly prescient motto, ‘A strong Europe in a world of challenges’. On 1 July Germany took over the Council presidency with 97 08 Malone article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 15:06 Page 98 98 MARGARET MARY MALONE the challenge of combatting the economic, social and budgetary implications of Covid-19 front and centre. The German presidency had four categories of priorities: 1. crisis management and recovery with an emphasis on avoiding a north–south divide and working towards a gradual and coordinated reduction on curbs to travel; 2. the MFF, 2021–7; 3. the European Green Deal, industrial strategy, digitalisation and reform of the common asylum policy; 4. rule of law concerns: to prevent any member state introducing restrictions on democracy and rule of law. Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, also highlighted the importance of building an efficient healthcare system in all member states in order to safeguard the single European market. In the first wave in spring, national borders were closed, disrupting supply chains. With the departure of the UK’s 73 MEPs on 31 January, the number of seats in the European Parliament (EP) decreased as planned from 751 to 705. Given the agreed redistribution of some of the UK seats, the way was clear for Ireland’s two ‘Brexit’ seats to be taken out of ‘cold storage’. Barry Andrews of Fianna Fáil duly joined the ranks of Renew Europe, while Deirdre Clune of Fine Gael joined the European People’s Party. From March the EP’s plenary sessions were held in Brussels as travelling to Strasbourg was not permitted, to avoid health risks to MEPs, EP staff as well as the local population. Many EP committees went online, with a limited number of MEPs physically attending committees in Brussels, in order to adhere to social-distancing rules. In January the European Commission adopted the 2020 Work Programme to tackle generational challenges. The emphasis was on ambitious climate action and digitalisation with time horizons far in the future, e.g. Europe to be the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. With the outbreak of Covid-19 in February/March, the Commission quickly changed tack to address the more immediate economic crisis arising from the pandemic, setting up a ‘Coronavirus Response Team’ of five commissioners meeting once a week. As public health is a national competence, the EU used its supporting powers to encourage member states to coordinate actions. 08 Malone article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 15:06 Page 99 European Union, 2020 99 In August Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was obliged to reshuffle her College of Commissioners when Phil Hogan, European Commissioner for Trade, became embroiled in a controversy soon dubbed ‘Golfgate’ by the media. Commissioner Hogan returned from Brussels, a high-risk Covid-19 zone, to attend the annual Oireachtas Golf Society gala in a hotel in Clifden, Co. Galway, with some eighty guests. The public outcry about his perceived flouting of Irish government public health guidelines and rules grew apace and political pressure for his resignation mounted. On 26 August Hogan tendered his resignation to von der Leyen, in whose hands Hogan’s fate ultimately lay. In a public statement, the Commission President accepted his resignation, saying she respected his decision and thanked him for his valuable contribution to the work of the Commission, but added she expected all commissioners to be particularly vigilant in their compliance with national and regional rules and recommendations in the collective effort to reduce the spread of Covid-19. The Trade portfolio, one of the most powerful in the Commission, passed immediately to Commission Executive Vice- President Valdis Dombrovskis, who subsequently retained this portfolio in the mini-reshuffle which Hogan’s departure precipitated. The Irish government proposed two nominees to replace Hogan, one male and one female. In the event, President von der Leyen chose Mairead McGuinness as Commissioner-designate for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union. McGuinness, an MEP since 2004, became First Vice-President of the EP in 2017. In October both McGuinness and Dombrovskis were confirmed in their Commission posts by MEPs by comfortable margins following public hearings in front of the EP committees concerned. On 13 July the Irish Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, TD, replaced Mario Centeno as President of the Eurogroup. Donohoe obtained a simple majority of the nineteen finance ministers of the eurozone. This position has a two-and-a-half-year mandate, which is renewable. Donohoe’s immediate priority was to play a constructive role to facilitate agreement on the €750 billion recovery fund which was to be embedded in the MFF for 2021–7. On 27 June Emer Cooke, an Irish national, was named the new Executive Director of the EU’s European Medicines Agency (EMA), the first woman to lead what is one of the most powerful regulatory bodies in the world. This was a crucial time for the agency, which is likely to have a greater role in securing supplies of medicines and streamlining research into new drugs as the EU seeks to increase its 08 Malone article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 15:06 Page 100 100 MARGARET MARY MALONE powers in public health to avoid pharmaceutical shortages and improve its future pandemic response. Cooke, with a background in both industry and regulation at national and international level, was director of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Regulation and Prequalification Department since 2016. Following a public hearing by the EP’s Environment and Public Health Committee in July, Cooke began her mandate with the EMA on 16 November, following a transition period. The EMA had moved from London to Amsterdam as a consequence of Brexit. In August Laura Codruta Kovesi, a former head of Romania’s anti- corruption agency, became the first director of the European Public Prosecutor Office (EPPO), an EU agency twenty-five years in the making. The EPPO’s task is to handle criminal investigations and prosecutions relating to suspected fraud involving EU funds and cross- border VAT irregularities, as well as to defend the rule of law in the EU. This agency allows the EU to bring such cases to national courts. It is based in Luxembourg, with a prosecutor in each member state. Five member states did not join the EPPO, namely Ireland, Denmark, Hungary, Poland and Sweden. Brexit endgame – Towards the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement On 9 January the British House of Commons approved the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) together with the Political Declaration (PD) by 330 votes to 231. The House of Lords soon followed suit. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel signed the WA and PD on 24 January ahead of ratification by the EP on 29 January. The EP vote took place during the January mini-plenary after an emotionally charged but largely good-natured debate. It ended with a two-minute heartfelt rendition of Auld Lang Syne. Nigel Farage and other members of the Brexit Party did not take part, having left the chamber earlier. Thus, on 1 February 2020 the UK formally ceased to be a member state of the EU and, as foreseen by the WA, a transition period ensued providing for a ‘standstill’ state of affairs for the UK from 31 January to 31 December. This meant that the UK continued to be part of the European single market throughout 2020. From 1 January 2021 the UK was to become a third country as far as the EU is concerned, de jure and de facto. In June the Boris Johnson government confirmed that it would not extend the transition period despite requests from 08 Malone article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 15:06 Page 101 European Union, 2020 101 the Scottish and Welsh First Ministers to do so. The transition period would end on 31 December 2020, deal or no deal. This meant that the EU and the UK had eleven months to negotiate a new trade relationship. On 1 February Portugal’s João Vale de Almeida, a former Ambassador to the UN and the US, became the head of the EU Delegation to the UK.
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