Crisis, Continuity, and Change in European Union Institutions: An Introduction

Abstract

This section offers an overview of how EU institutions have been affected by crises and how they have coped with them. The section finds that EU institutions have responded to polycrisis mainly by “muddling through” based on familiar ways of governing and by introducing incremental changes, and in some cases, also heading forward with new institutional arrangements or structures. The section hardly finds evidence of institutional breakdown or even of minor reductions in the role of EU institutions—either vis-à-vis other EU institutions or vis-à-vis member state institutions. To the contrary—the EU institutions have proven to be resilient and able to deal with crises by drawing on their already established tools and structures or by developing new tools building on the already established institutional patterns.