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The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on EU trade policy
The paper aims to identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the EU CCP, to grasp the logic behind certain EU trade policy decisions made during the pandemic, to explain continuity and change in EU trade discourse, and to trace its prospective path of post-pandemic development. This impact is exemplified on a particular case of exports authorization mechanism for coronavirus vaccines, which was in place in the first quarter of 2021. The methodological design of the paper involves qualitative case study with rigorous process-tracing analysis, comparative legal analysis, and using conceptual tools of Hall’s framework of three levels of changes. Empirical findings show that delays in AstraZeneca vaccine deliveries came as a shock for the European Commission, whose slowness and shortsightedness account for a failure in securing vaccine deliveries. The European Commission tried to rehabilitate its reputation with a specific trade policy response — export authorization and transparency mechanism. However, its usage was quite limited due to its unpopularity. This case is also indicative in terms of the current transformation EU trade policy is undergoing. The necessity to achieve open strategic autonomy is becoming more vital. Nonetheless, radical reformation of the policy domain is barely possible in the short term due to impracticality of this measure.
