The EU’s solidarity in the pandemic crisis

First published online: 11 September 2021The article addresses the EU’s role in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its key argument is that the level of solidarity the EU is broadly expected to exert in the crisis goes well beyond its explicit competences. The expectations originate in the way a political union is understood in many parts of Europe. The EU’s longterm focus on citizens’ union together with the more recent efforts to deepen the Economic and Monetary Union are equally important in nourishing these expectations. The historical dividing lines in the EU are, however, deep and prevent the EU’s member states from reaching a common understanding of the Union’s role as a democratic and political union