The scale of the COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented in EU history. In the past year, European Union policymakers have implemented a series of extraordinarily ambitious measures in order to tackle the negative effects of the pandemic on the public health sector and beyond. Examples of these are the recent signatures of vaccine contracts by the European Commission or the agreement reached by the European Council on the largest financial stimulus package ever. These months have also involved hectic coordination with non-EU country governments, private firms, and international organizations such as the World Health Organization for crisis management purposes.

Within this context our three invited experts, Christos Stylianides, Pol Morillas and Sharon Friel will provide relevant analytical insights into the role of the European Union in the governance of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Christos Stylianides - Former EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management (2014-2019) and former EU Ebola Coordinator.

Pol Morillas - Director at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs, CIDOB.

Sharon Friel - Professor of Health Equity and Director of the School of Regulation and Global Governance at the Australian National University.

Chair: Fulya Apaydin - Assistant Professor at the Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals (IBEI).