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11. COMMENTARIES: State of the European Union address 2020

Author:
Katerina Davidova, Vít Havelka, Jana Juzová, Christian Kvorning Lassen, Danielle Piatkiewicz, and Zuzana Stuchlíková
Publication Date:
09-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Europeum Institute for European Policy
Abstract:
Experts from EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy comment on the State of the Union address (SOTEU) given by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on 16 September 2020. Topics of the commentaries: Christian Kvorning Lassen: General Impressions – A Visionary Speech Challenged by Political Reality; Christian Kvorning Lassen: A Stronger European Health Union is Needed; Christian Kvorning Lassen: Migration – Ambitious rhetoric, dubious feasibility; Danielle Piatkiewicz: Multilateralism: Europe’s Call to Global Action – Taking the Lead; Kateřina Davidová: EU’s climate momentum not quashed by the pandemic as new target is presented; Jana Juzová: European Neighbourhoods – Vague Reassurances, Economy First; Zuzana Stuchlíková: Next Generation EU, Rule of Law and Conference on the Future of Europe; Vít Havelka: The EU and the UK fights over blame for Brexit fiasco
Topic:
Climate Change, Health, Migration, European Union, Multilateralism, and Rule of Law
Political Geography:
Europe

12. Massive but divisive: Crisis management and EU responses to COVID-19

Author:
Jens Bastian
Publication Date:
04-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)
Abstract:
Coordinated Covid-19 crisis management among EU member states took weeks to develop. The initial response was slow, at times contradictory, frequently displaying nation-state unilateralism and obviously divisive. An unprecedented architecture of fiscal and monetary partnership is now building in Europe. The ECB is taking the lead in this construction process, with national governments asserting their political prerogatives while the Commission in Brussels is careful not to overstep the national sovereignty of its member states. As the crisis response to Covid-19 has highlighted manifest fault lines among EU member states, these divisions could morph into bigger controversies during uncoordinated exit strategies. Once the cessation of economic activity can start to unwind, the debate across Europe will accelerate over budget rules, further relief programmes and the demand for debt forbearance.
Topic:
Health, European Union, Crisis Management, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Europe

13. What role for health in the new Commission?

Author:
Simona Guagliardo
Publication Date:
02-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Policy Centre
Abstract:
As the Juncker Presidency hands over its mandate baton to Ursula von der Leyen, all eyes are on the energised new President and her ambitions bestowed upon her cabinet. Despite some progress, more efforts to improve Europe’s health policy is still needed if it is to tackle unprecedented challenges like demographic changes, environmental degradation and the rapidly changing world of work. Newly-appointed Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides has been entrusted with a considerable portfolio, indicating an arduous yet promising five years ahead of her. In this Policy Brief, policy analyst Simona Guagliardo argues that von der Leyen’s agenda for a “Union that strives for more” offers a unique opportunity to build a strong case for placing health and well-being at the centre of her policy triad: economic growth fuelled by technological innovation and environmental protection. The EU and its member states must recognise the centrality of people’s health and well-being vis-à-vis economic growth; ensure that health is a constant factor in all policymaking; and deliver on their promises of social fairness, equality and inclusion.
Topic:
Environment, Health, Science and Technology, European Union, and Economic growth
Political Geography:
Europe

14. From reaction to action: How the EU can step up its role in global pandemics

Author:
Claire Dhéret and Simona Guagliardo
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Policy Centre
Abstract:
he COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the unpreparedness of European health systems to absorb a health crisis of this magnitude. In order to fix these existing structural weaknesses and effectively deal with the health challenges brought on by the current pandemic, we need to build a ‘Europe of Health’; an EU public health policy that works across borders and lives up to its citizens’ expectations. Following on from the Franco-German initiative for European recovery from the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, Claire Dhéret and Simona Guagliardo outline a twofold strategy to foster ‘EU health sovereignty’ and reinforce the EU’s international leadership in health at a time when multilateralism is seriously jeopardised: Foster EU health crisis management capabilities by empowering existing structures, prepare a European stockpile of strategic medical products and equipment, and make better use of the Single Market in the area of health. Strengthen the resilience of national health systems by promoting modern, innovative and patient-centred care, and encourage the creation and use of a common, EU-wide evaluation framework for health care.
Topic:
Health, European Union, Crisis Management, Public Health, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Europe

15. Do Americans Face Greater Mental Health and Economic Consequences from COVID-19? Comparing the U.S. with Other High-Income Countries

Author:
Michelle M. Doty, Eric C. Schneider, Roosa Tikkanen, Arnav Shah, and Reginald D. Williams II
Publication Date:
08-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Commonwealth Fund
Abstract:
With more than 4 million confirmed cases and 150,000 deaths as of August, the United States is failing to control the COVID-19 pandemic. At a time when many nations are reopening their economies and societies, the U.S. is struggling in its attempts to do the same. To examine the early impact of the pandemic on the well-being of adults in the U.S. and abroad, the Commonwealth Fund joined the survey research firm SSRS to interview 8,259 adults age 18 and older between March and May 2020. It is the latest in the Commonwealth Fund’s series of cross-national comparisons featuring the United States and nine other high-income countries that participate in the Fund’s annual International Health Policy Survey. The following exhibits illustrate COVID-19’s effects on people’s mental health and economic security and compare levels of public trust in national leaders in responding to the pandemic.
Topic:
Health, Health Care Policy, Mental Health, and Public Health
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and Global Focus

16. U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective, 2019: Higher Spending, Worse Outcomes?

Author:
Roosa Tikkanen and Melinda K. Abrams
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Commonwealth Fund
Abstract:
A 2015 Commonwealth Fund brief showed that — before the major provisions of the Affordable Care Act were introduced — the United States had worse outcomes and spent more on health care, largely because of greater use of medical technology and higher prices, compared to other high-income countries. By benchmarking the performance of the U.S. health care system against other countries — and updating with new data as they become available — we can gain important insights into our strengths and weaknesses and help policymakers and delivery system leaders identify areas for improvement. This analysis is the latest in a series of Commonwealth Fund cross-national comparisons that uses health data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to assess U.S. health care system spending, outcomes, risk factors and prevention, utilization, and quality, relative to 10 other high-income countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. We also compare U.S. performance to that of the OECD average, comprising 36 high-income member countries.
Topic:
Health and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and Global Focus

17. An Expanded View of Government’s Role in Providing Social Insurance and Investing in Children

Author:
Sandra E. Black and Jesse Rothstein
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Economics for Inclusive Prosperity (EfIP)
Abstract:
While private provision of goods often yields the efficient outcome, there are a number of goods that are not efficiently provided in the private market. Here, we outline two such situations: investments in child care and education, and insurance against risks created by business cycles, poor health, and old age. Because private markets work poorly for these goods, and the costs of market failure are large, standard economic reasoning implies a significant role for government provision. The reduction in economic insecurity that this would bring could help to improve political stability as well, by reducing the stakes that people perceive in discussions of trade, immigration, technological change, and countercyclical policy (Inglehart and Norris, 2016). Many observers (e.g, Hacker, 2018) have pointed to economic anxiety as a potential contributor to populist reactions in the U.S. and many European countries; a public sector that acts to reduce the risk that households face could ameliorate this, generating political spillovers and improving the state of the country more broadly.
Topic:
Economics, Education, Health, Health Care Policy, Children, Economic Policy, and Economic Theory
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

18. Making Bodies Kosher: The Politics of Reproduction among Haredi Jews in England

Author:
Ben Kasstan
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
Berghahn Books
Abstract:
For Haredi Jews, reproduction is entangled with issues of health, bodily governance and identity. This is an analysis of the ways in which Haredi Jews negotiate healthcare services using theoretical perspectives in political philosophy. It is the first archival and ethnographic study of Haredi Jews in the UK and sits at the intersection of medical anthropology, social history and Jewish studies. It will allow readers to understand how reproductive care issues affect this growing minority population.
Topic:
Health, Religion, Anthropology, and Anti-Semitism
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, Europe, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales

19. Regards sur l’Eurasie - L'année politique 2018

Author:
Anne De Tinguy, Annie Daubenton, Olivier Ferrando, Sophie Hohmann, Jacques Lévesque, Nicolas Mazzuchi, Gaïdz Minassian, Thierry Pasquet, Tania Sollogoub, and Julien Thorez
Publication Date:
02-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales
Abstract:
Regards sur l’Eurasie. L’année politique est une publication annuelle du Centre de recherches internationales de Sciences Po (CERI) dirigée par Anne de Tinguy. Elle propose des clefs de compréhension des événements et des phénomènes qui marquent de leur empreinte les évolutions d’une région, l’espace postsoviétique, en profonde mutation depuis l’effondrement de l’Union soviétique en 1991. Forte d’une approche transversale qui ne prétend nullement à l’exhaustivité, elle vise à identifier les grands facteurs explicatifs, les dynamiques régionales et les enjeux sous-jacents.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Corruption, Democratization, Economics, Health, International Security, Natural Resources, Conflict, Multilateralism, Europeanization, Political Science, and Regional Integration
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Ukraine, Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan

20. European Migrant Crisis: Health and Policy Implications

Author:
Adetayo Olorunlana
Publication Date:
07-2019
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Ìrìnkèrindò: a Journal of African Migration
Abstract:
Over 65 million people are displaced worldwide. Some have migrated to Europe, seeking refuge from wars, conflict and natural disasters. Migration and refugee health have significant repercussions for European governments and the European Union (EU), which were somewhat unprepared to address such issues. The EU proposed Health 2020 as immediate measures to address the health needs of refugees and migrants. The initiative was adopted to improve health for all, and to reduce health inequalities through public policy. However, there are legal restrictions barring irregular migrants from accessing these services. In addition, health service policies for irregular migrants varies in the EU region. There is inadequate response to some diseases affecting migrants from African origin. Consequently, refugee and migrant health is neglected, producing an inequitable situation and unnecessary suffering for the migrants, as well as potential risk to population in their host country.
Topic:
Health, Migration, Population, Public Health, and Health Crisis
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, and European Union