Next Generation EU under a social equity lens

Abstract

The severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and its far-reaching multi-dimensional repercussions placed an unprecedented pressure on the socio-economic fabric of the EU and its member states. With the overarching aim to assist EU member states with the recovery from the pandemic, the European Commission initiated NextGenerationEU (NGEU) within the 2021-2027 European Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). In the context of COVID-19 recovery, the Commission states that the social dimension is a priority for the EU level response to the pandemic (European Commission 2020a). To this end, scholars argue that NGEU is a symbol of solidarity in the EU (see e.g., Jones 2021). We take this emphasis on the social dimension and solidarity as an overarching starting point for our (inceptive-descriptive) analysis of NGEU under a social equity lens. Particularly, we attempt to trace dimensions of social equity in NGEU, which we understand as both a governance innovation and financial instrument. We deem the examination of NGEU under a social equity lens important as past EU level responses to crisis (e.g., the sovereign debt crisis) as well as changes in its institutional setup (e.g., introduction of the European Semester) arguably overlooked social concerns in terms of policy preferences and design in favour of their economic-fiscal counterparts.