Naslov
The new era of polycrisis and how to tackle it

Autori
Kotarski, Kristijan

Izvornik
Future Europe (2790-3354) 3 (2023); 14-25

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
Polycrisis ; EU ; states ; markets ; green transition ; climate ; energy ; agriculture ; geopolitics ; EMU ; industrial policy

Sažetak
How crises-proof is really the EU and what can be done to improve its crisis management capabilities? The first thematic block of this volume is titled States in Crises and it primarily focuses on the EU and how its architecture and policies could be made more efficient, resilient and democratic. Complementarily, the second thematic block Markets in Transition bring more sector-specific stories. In the past, crises were often stimulative for the promotion of EU integration. However, it would be naive to conclude that more crises will lead to more integration, especially if they will take the asymmetric form, hitting some parts of the Union different than the rest. Some relatively recent crises. such as the EU’s financial crisis led to new and reinforced architecture in the form of banking union, notwithstanding additional work that needs to be done. Other crises with more asymmetric effects, such as the migration crisis, are still lingering in the absence of an agreement on how to best tackle it together. Overcoming crises requires solidarity and the best way to ensure it among member states is to identify enlightened self-interest and see how it is tightly intervowen with mutual interdependence. Sooner or later, rising global interconnectedness and rapidly changing environment makes somebody else’s problem your problem. Therefore, preventing excessive concentration of power at the higher levels of hierarchy while at the same time being able to pool joint resources when it is reasonable to expect that common efforts add value is a golden formula. To provide a fresh example, letting European Commission issue new bonds in the context of current energy crisis would set a bad legal precedent and represent a pro-cyclical fiscal policy. On the other hand member states’ reluctance to embrace some degree of resource pooling for strictly supporting the provision of EU-wide public goods would be equally bad. Overall, there are ten interesting and complementary contributions in this issue, despite authors’ diverse academic and professional backgrounds. Hence, in the next couple of pages I will try to do justice to each of the contribution and distil their key ideas and arguments. For the sake of clarity and coherence, they will be divided into three sections: Reforming the EMU, Agriculture-Climate-Energy Nexus and Industrial Policy, Technology and the Geopolitics of Standard-Setting. Hopefully, readers will enjoy all ten contributions, broaden their horizons and leverage authors’ ideas in their academic, professional and civic endeavours.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Ekonomija, Politologija

POVEZANOST RADA