Europe(2020)

This contribution intends carrying out a legal reflection on the most relevant trends emerging from the response the European Union (EU) has elaborated in this respect of the COVID-19 pandemic. The piece has been divided into four parts. Part 1 provides a summary of the impact generated by the measures adopted at the EU level on the allocation of competences among the Union and its Member States, the latter representing a crucial element of every legal discourse on the Union. In the light of that analysis, Part 2 describes the roles and responsibilities assumed by different EU institutions in dealing with the crisis. In doing so, it assesses the impact of the EU’s response on the institutional framework (and balance) of the Union. Part 3 provides a general reflection on the main features characterising the instruments adopted by the Union in that context, with a particular emphasis on the recurrent use of soft-law acts. Finally, Part 4 zooms in on the major developments that occurred in 2020 regarding the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (ucpm), due to its major relevance in the EU disaster law discourse.