Thesis abstract:

This research will investigate the interactions between European Union (EU) public health policy and law and EU member state health policies and systems. It will assess the impact and effectiveness of EU and national law and policy impact in the control of infectious diseases, with specific analysis on the disease manifestation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), more widely known as the causal pathogen of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The thesis will use the EU member state case studies of Romania, Sweden, Italy, France, and Poland. These case studies represent a wide cross-section of different geographical, health systems, pandemic responses, economic, political, cultural, and social environments that the EU region encompasses. The research will emphasise the very distinct differences between the member states that the EU represents and encompasses, highlighting the extremely difficult issue of health integration. The thesis will be limited to the late pre-pandemic (2018-2019), intra- pandemic (2020-ongoing), and potentially post- pandemic timeframe. The research will utilise process tracing methodology to identify distinct changes and use secondary epidemiological data analysis to demonstrate the effectiveness of policy and law on morbidity, mortality, and immunisation coverage, with additional analysis on social and public responses.

The thesis will argue that the COVID-19 pandemic is the newest crisis as part of the EU’s cycle of “crisis-fighting” that has forced the EU to essentially increase integration and federalisation. Unlike previous crises that the EU has faced, notably the 2009 Euro sovereign debt crisis and the 2015 EU migrant crisis, the pandemic provides the EU with the opportunity to strengthen its international presence and identity, whilst concurrently tackling and increasing resilience against current and future health issues, such as health equality and accessibility and infectious and non-infectious disease manifestations. Nevertheless, the past lessons on the integration of the euro alongside the diversity of the member states within the EU, demonstrates that health federalisation is a mammoth task with a multitude of policy and legal issues that require immense institutional focus, diplomacy, and political fortitude to reconcile.

Additionally, the thesis will challenge the traditional notions of international relations. It will put forth the argument that health should be considered in the traditional security concerns and not just non-traditional security concerns, as a healthy and stable population is critical to the survival of the state, an essential tenet of international relations theory. The thesis is an interdisciplinary study merging international relations, Europeanisation, social science and epidemiology.