The COVID-19 pandemic came on the back of a decade of crisis in Europe. It has opened up an unprecedented window of opportunity for structural institutional reform and changes in policies, not only at the ‘reactive‘ level of emergency responses but also at the level of tackling broader, socio-political challenges caused or exacerbated by COVID-19. In this context, the EPC joined the Horizon Europe project REGROUP (Rebuilding governance and resilience out of the pandemic), which aims to: 1) provide the EU with a body of actionable advice on how to rebuild post-pandemic governance and public policies in an effective and democratic way; anchored in 2) a map of the socio-political dynamics and consequences of COVID-19; and 3) an empirically informed, normative evaluation of the pandemic.
REGROUP is conducted by a consortium of 13 universities and think tanks under the scientific lead of the University of Groningen, with the intention of achieving lasting policy, societal, and scientific impact. Given the nature of the project, debates and events on related issues like the Health Union, the Green Deal, the Digital Decade, the Economic Governance Review, the Conference on the Future of Europe and the 2024 European Parliament elections will also be part of the activities.
During the next three years, the EPC will contribute to several of these work streams and lead a work package that will elaborate coherent and actionable policy recommendations for the reform of the post-pandemic EU.