The EU and the Precarious Routes to Political, Economic and Social Resilience

This chapter introduces the theme of the book—resilience in the EU. It presents definitions for these concepts and explores what the challenges of societal resilience entail for the EU. It is argued that the transformation to a resilient society requires a balanced approach to competing economic, social and environmental interests, as well as well-functioning, proactive political institutions. The chapter then assesses initiatives to increase resilience in areas such as the environment, financial stability, economic competitiveness, public health, and in the integration of immigrants and intra-European workers. It is argued that although the EU has been marred by continuous crisis which have increased political contention about the road ahead this has also strengthened the EU’s capacity to deal with unexpected events. The EU’s current initiatives, particularly the European Green Deal, are a step in the right direction but their implementation is far from certain given the lack of political consensus.