Crises burdening and EU Integration through policy-making: a politicisation model

Since the Great Recession, the EU entered an edge of multiple global crises that marked significant changes to the past dynamics of European integration. In order to contain the threatening effects of these global crises, both within EU member states and the supranational/regional system, the EU initiative in policy-making expanded in new areas aiming to strengthen the role of the Union. From our perspective, the poly-crisis period modified how integration progressed, bypassing nation-states' bargaining through international treaties. The output of the Union policy initiative has been, however, not consistently successful: along with clear progresses toward more integration in new and old policy areas, some issue stopped or even regressed previous steps achieved at the EU level, steering toward dis-integration. As a result, the question of why the EU policy initiatives have had different success is at the core of a debate involving Grand Theories of EU integration. We aim to contribute to this debate by framing a politicization model that describes the political elites and citizens’ relationships beyond domestic political spaces. Once we theoretically describe these dynamics, and formulate specific research hypotheses, we focus on empirical observations by looking at three key crises: the Euro crisis, the refugee reception crisis and the SARS-COV2 pandemic. Cross-national mass and political elite surveys will provide data for tests of hypotheses.