A Litmus Test for the EU's Longest Year: Solidarity Principle and Challenges by COVID-19 in 2020/AB'nin En Uzun Yili i

• Author: Ocak, Piril Akin

Introduction

The principle of 'solidarity', which was referred to by the Treaty of Lisbon (1) as well as a number of essential European documents as a guiding principle of the European Union, is one of the fundamental values on which the EU was founded. However, with the breakout of COVID-19, this principle has been questioned since the EU's institutional mechanism to cope with the pandemic was largely insufficient to meet the expectations of the member states. A common sense of struggle against the crisis was not adopted under the roof of the EU and the solidarity mechanism could not be immediately activated. Therefore, the Union has so far failed to appear as an actor who can manage the crisis from a single source in a coordinated manner. For instance, Italy's request for masks from European Civil Protection Mechanism (CPM) was not immediately responded. Some members decided to close their borders promptly to all foreign nationals, while others, such as Slovenia and Austria, only increased border security controls at the first stage. Some member countries have started to implement the methods of combating the pandemic that differ from the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) as seen in Sweden while in some member countries, governments have urgently declared a state of emergency and preferred to strengthen their authorities under the name of 'effective fight against the crisis' as seen in Hungary. The Prime Minister Victor Orbán started to challenge the EU's core values by receiving extraordinary powers from the parliament in the fight against COVID-19 for indefinite period of time as if turning the crisis into an opportunity. In addition, Poland's decision to hold elections on May 10, 2020 despite the current situation in the EU showed that these two countries played the blind man and sustained their political processes. (2) These developments undermined the solidarity principle and showed how fragile could be the solidarity in the EU.

In this context, covering the full year of European developments in 2020, this article aims to examine multifaceted influences of the COVID-19 outbreak on the 'solidarity' of the EU. The article also intends to make a conceptual analysis of the 'solidarity principle' and to evaluate its moral and institutional aspects.

Therefore, this study provides a comprehensive assessment of why and how the COVID-19 epidemic affected the EU solidarity principle at the borders of the European Union over a one-year period. The article argues, firstly that, the existence of a turbulent European integration climate created by the painful migration and refugee problems, Brexit fatigue and domestic economic crises in some member countries at the beginning of 2020, gave an initial impetus to negative approaches to solidarity when the COVID-19 outbreak started. Secondly, the article asserts that, the lack of supra-national and developed disaster management mechanisms, inadequate coordination of health infrastructure, and a shortage of emergency materials weakened the emphasis of solidarity and were used to justify national priorities instead of common European objectives. And finally, the article evaluates that, rather than the failing cooperation in health services, it was the effective colossal efforts to revitalize the devastated European economy that gradually flourished an increased support for European solidarity in the upshot of the year.

EU developments throughout 2020 dramatically proved that the perception of solidarity differs from one member to another. For some, solidarity is measured by how much support flows to a country in need. For others, solidarity means everyone doing their own 'duty' to avoid the need for help in the first place. Some believe that solidarity against today's risks and threats is best sustained outside EU frameworks; others still believe it is better to cope with them within the EU.

Solidarity as a Conceptual Framework

The concept of solidarity, which has existed since the establishment of the EU, is a core element of the early European integration process and one of the existential principles at the heart of the EU. The principle of solidarity has been a subject of controversy from time to time. A comprehensive understanding of solidarity is needed to understand the complexity of that notion. While most authors who deal with solidarity focused on its manifestation within the borders of the nation state, some important figures focus on solidarity in the EU as a compound and multidimensional issue. Whereas Jürgen Habermas offers a powerful conception of transnational solidarity as such, he does not sufficiently elaborate on its discreteness within the system of multilevel governance of the European Union. (3) However, Andrea Sangiovanni complements the argument with a more accurate understanding of the different manners of solidarity. (4) Habermas' conception of solidarity has proven to be crucial by showing that solidarity in modern societies is not a natural moral duty but a political liability based on reciprocity. (5) According to him, solidarity was artificially constructed within the nation state and it would thus be possible to expand it into a form of transnational solidarity within the EU. The core of this process is in line with characteristic European experiences. Unlike other cultures, the European identity was always designated by divisions and tensions between different regions, confessions and especially between nations. This dialectical process taught Europeans how to cope with particularism, how to develop tolerance and finally resulted in a project of successful political integration; that is the EU. This common legacy can also function as a basis for further social integration therefore, we may talk about the Habermasian ideal of 'the Portuguese and the Swede standing in for another' (6) which constitutes the principle of European Solidarity.

The compound structure of the EU is often, referred to as a system of, multilevel governance. This approach gives exposition to the unique multilayered and overlapping system of decision-making within the EU, including the supranational, the national and the regional level. Moreover, it also clarifies horizontally and vertically impact of the non-state actors. The EU is thus neither an international organization nor a federal state but rather an institution sui generis. An inclusive explanation of solidarity within the EU has to consider these precise characteristics; as the EU is a sui generis institution--and so is its concept of solidarity. (7) Therefore, Sangiovanni offers a tripartite model of solidarity in the EU context. He differentiates between national solidarity which defines obligations among citizens of member states; and member state solidarity, which defines duties among member states, and lastly transnational solidarity, which defines obligations among citizens of the EU. All three together form "the core of his conception of solidarity for the EU". (8)

This triune division provides us a tool to analyze the multilevel system of the Union with regard to its different forms of solidarity. Along this basis, different degrees of solidarity exist within a multilevel entity such as the EU. (9) According to Sangiovanni, solidarity is thus understood, as the demand for a fair distribution of the benefits and risks resulting from the degree of integration.

According to Andreas Grimmel, solidarity in Europe has to be built by Europeans, and it has to be made explicit by an agreement. (10) As stated by Robert Schuman in his declaration on 9 May 1950: "Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a defacto solidarity." (11) The EU eventually takes Schuman's advice seriously and engage in the process of making solidarity explicit through the concreteness of the agreement. (12) As seen, a comprehensive understanding of solidarity and a common practice are needed to understand, the complexity of that notion and in order to evaluate this principle correctly.

Solidarity plays a featured role in both the political and the legal discourse as a comprehensive principle behind the framing of all the major Treaties of the EU including the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) Treaty (1951), the Single European Act (1986), the Maastricht Treaty (1992) and the Treaty of Lisbon (2006). The Treaties are abounded in with appeals of solidarity, social cohesion, mutual assistance, etc. as seen in the preamble of the ECSC Treaty: "Europe can be built only through real practical achievements which will first of all create real solidarity". (13) It is framed as a value binding together both citizens and member states. Solidarity is not just a generalized principle of moral guidance as it also has 'legal confirmations in EU primary law which can be made effective in court proceedings.' (14)

The fact that Chapter IV of The Charter of Fundamental Rights, (15) approved in Nice in 2001, is titled 'Solidarity', and that has later established individual and collective rights in the labour market, and rights to different forms of social protection, indicates that solidarity has legal substance at EU level.

'Solidarity Clause', one of the most notable innovations of the Treaty of Lisbon, has significantly fostered the reference to the concept of solidarity and enhanced its' understanding by launching three aspects: solidarity between member states, member states and individuals, and between generations. (16) Moreover, the Treaty has made the Charter of Fundamental Rights part of primary law, which is especially significant for solidarity between member states and individuals, as the Charter uses the concept to underpin the economic internal market with a social dimension. (17) However, the knowledge about solidarity is still incomplete and its conceptualization in the EU legal order needs to be more...