The European Council and the Council of the EU:What lessons from Covid-19 decision-making?

The eruption of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic took the EU institutions and Member States by surprise. This Policy Insight maps how the European Council and Council of the EU adapted to the unprecedented challenges to their working methods. It looks at the procedures, technology and human resources used in the period between March 2020 and June 2021, when these institutions began to return to ‘business as usual’. It then examines what we can learn from this period of improvised, pragmatic solutions to maintain policy- and lawmaking. It explores to what extent these solutions could play a part in improved decision-making and governance beyond the crisis.