European legal responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic: Post-apocalyptic at best

Platsas, Antonios Emmanuel

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to assess, on an indicative basis, European legal responses to the pandemic. Such responses have been generally slow and not always well-calculated. At other times, responses were clearly spasmodic and uncoordinated. One assesses the results of legal responses not by the good intent of relevant authorities and States but by the very effectiveness of measures taken. Indeed, such assessment must be the direct result of the effectiveness of public health legal measures by considering also the wealth of the European continent and countries. Resembling a perfect legal Tower of Babel different European countries, especially at the beginning of the pandemic, seemed to have been following quite diverse approaches, as health law is to this day an area of law that is mostly a national law area. For instance, the EU can recommend the course of action to be followed in a state of health emergency but such recommendations are generally not binding on Member States. At other times, the establishment of an EU-wide Digital COVID Certificate seemed to have been the subject matter of relatively long negotiations on the part of both Member States and EU institutions. Nonetheless, the keep-to-my-own-legal-shell approach that most European countries have followed has resulted in dramatic differences and results in the dealing of the pandemic. This paper, therefore, acts as a reminder of the legal responses followed in the pandemic by proposing more co-ordinated European responses in situations of considerable urgency affecting public health in the future.

• Presentation Conference Type: Presentation / Talk
• Conference Name: ephemera and AlterEcos Workshop 2021
• Start Date: Dec 8, 2021
• End Date: Dec 9, 2021
• Deposit Date: Dec 2, 2022
• Keywords: European Law, Covid-19 Pandemic, Effectiveness, Europe, Health Law, Legal Measures, European Union, National Laws
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10198271
• Related Public URLs: https://research.brighton.ac.uk/en/activities/ephemera-and-alterecos-workshop-2021; ; https://ephemerajournal.org/events/organizing-apocalypse