Unity and Disunity in the EU’s response to emergencies

ongoing

The Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence (JMCE) EUMERGENCIES aims to establish an interdisciplinary platform that brings together researchers, students, practitioners and civil society actors to critically examine the EU’s “turn to emergency”, which is currently reshaping its legal and political discourse and governance. The JMCE will investigate how the political and social management of emergencies can foster unprecedented solidarity and cooperation within the EU, but also how emergency powers and narratives can undermine the EU’s constitutional foundations, social cohesion and political stability. To achieve this goal, the JMCE will: (i) clarify the language of emergency; (ii) explore how swift and efficient EU responses to emergencies can align with the preservation of EU values, human rights and democratic decision-making; (iii) provide a cross-policy analysis of EU emergency responses. Building upon the expertise of 10 leading scholars at the Institute for European Studies (IES) at UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles EUMERGENCIES will unpack how the EU addresses five challenges: (i) the protection of EU fundamental rights and the rule of law in emergency situations; (ii) climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental degradation; (iii) asylum and migration; (iv) the EU’s global role in shaping international crisis responses; and (v) the safeguarding of EU democracy against internal and external threats. Building on the success of the EUNMUTE JMCE awarded to the IES (2022-2025), EUMERGENCIES will be structured around the IES’ tripartite mission: teaching, research in EU studies, and fostering dialogue between academia, civil society and the wider society. The JMCE will place a strong emphasis on innovation in policy dialogue, equipping EU citizens, practitioners and civil society representatives with analytical tools to critically assess and respond to emergency narratives and the use of emergency powers across the EU.