An Inclusive and Green Recovery: Mapping the EU economic and fiscal regulation response to the pandemic

The notion that health is shaped by broader socioeconomic conditions is widely accepted. In the EU, this awareness is reflected in, for example, the 'Health in All Policies' agenda which seeks to mainstream health in other policy areas. The implementation of 'Health in All Policies' in areas like the EU economic governance, however, has been limited. The pandemic has now made the relationship between health, socioeconomic conditions, and the environment, even more visible. The European Green Deal is the current EU growth strategy and aims to address this wellbeing-economy-environment nexus by fostering green and inclusive growth. Sustainability and inclusivity, according to the strategy, is to be reflected in the EU economic and fiscal governance. The concept of 'green and inclusive growth' however, is heavily contested and remains vague. This article has two aims: first, it maps out the pandemic-related EU economic and fiscal tools and developments to provide an overview of this rapidly changing landscape. Secondly, it seeks to identify and provide preliminary reflections on the dominant discourse emerging in EU documents around the relationship between health-economy-environment. This article’s overarching purpose is to prepare the terrain for further research into the discursive and ideational dynamics that shape the meaning of what constitutes 'inclusive growth', and the concrete ways in which it is supposed to improve public health through economic governance tools.