How the European Union responded to populism and its implications for public sector reforms

Abstract

A major shift occurred in the European Union (EU) approach to tackle the apparently unstoppable rise of populist parties across European countries and to preserve the integrity of the EU polity. EU economic governance seems to have shifted from a logic of conditionality to a logic of solidarity underpinned by a pan-European strategic view allowing EU governance to support and enable public sector reforms at the national level. By investigating the case of Italy as an EU member state, we find that the European governance shift occurring in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic was largely mediated by the mutating character of Italian populism. A logic of conditionality which was largely centered around EU governance was largely shifted to a logic of solidarity taking into account political conditions in the member countries.

Do Economic Recovery Packages Open a Window of Opportunity for Corruption and Mismanagement? The Case of Italy in the Aftermath of the Covid-19 Pandemic

“… The third phase refers to the first months of the Draghi government in which key ministries were assigned to technical experts (February–May 2021). The new government was expected to reverse Italy’s slow vaccination campaign while also drafting ambitious reform programmes to be included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan funded by the European Union (Ongaro et al, 2022 ). Nevertheless, the recovery measures adopted by the Draghi government mostly aligned in continuity with those issued by the predecessor Conte II.…”

The Populist Challenge to Normative and Geopolitical Europe

“…Here, the EU's attitude during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis may be promising as it responded with a logic of solidarity rather than conditionality, in contrast to its backing for austerity policies in the wake of the Eurozone crisis. 68 Such instances should undoubtedly be duplicated so that they eventually aid the EU's attempts to close the gap between its policies and public expectations.…”

The long and winding road towards the EU policy of support to Member States public administration reform: History (2000–2021) and prospects

“…Then the “black swan” (external shock) occurred, namely Covid and the EU response to it: the RRF supporting financially the RRPs. This major and transformative process led to a broader range of changes in the EU governance, some of which have implications also for the processes of public sector reforms at the national level (see also Ongaro et al, forthcoming). These changes in a sense transformed - to further reinforce it - the very context within which the paradigmatic shift in the EU-supported administrative reform policy would occur.…”