Beyond ‘responsibility vs. responsiveness’: reconfigurations of EU economic governance in response to crises

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Covid-19 pandemic led to an important reconfiguration of economic governance in the European Union towards deeper economic integration. This fits uneasily with predictions of an inevitable political ‘lock-in’ stemming from a responsibility–responsiveness dilemma, or an inexorably constraining politicisation. Investigating the evolution in discourses on and policies of economic governance in the EU, the papers in this collection approach the relationship between prevailing notions of responsible and responsive government as socially constructed and critically contingent upon politicisation processes. The special issue explores the reconfiguration of economic governance in the EU through multi-level analysis of politicisation, ranging from citizens’ attitudes to conflicts over central banking mandates, using a variety of methodological toolkits. As the collection shows, the shift towards investment, fiscal sharing, and green transition in the new recovery programme followed the emergence of a form of ‘responsive responsibility’ dating back to the aftermath of the euro crisis and which has led to the incorporation of responsiveness imperatives in prevailing notions of ‘responsible government’.