TY - RPRT U1 - Arbeitspapier A1 - Schomaker, Rahel M. A1 - Hack, Marko A1 - Mandry, Ann-Katrin T1 - National Pacemaking and Informal Arenas - The EU's Reaction in the First Wave of the Covid-19 Pandemic N2 - The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 and its consequences constitute a veritable capacity test for the European Union, challenging not only the single Member States, but also the European Union’s ability to provide policy responses that address pandemic control as a union-wide “public good” in different dimensions related to inter alia public health, but also the freedom of movement or the single market. Against this backdrop, this article attempts to take stock of the Union’s early reactions to the first wave of the Covid-19 outbreak. After a brief introduction, we reflect on crisis manage-ment theories, power distribution in the EU, and the EU’s institutionalised crisis reaction capacity. Subsequently, crisis reaction in selected policy areas in the European Union is analysed, before we finish with a concluding section. We find some evidence for the pace-making function of the Franco-German tandem in the form of informal, decentralised action, as well as for a relative weak performance of institutionalised crisis management mecha-nisms on the EU level, but instead a centralisation towards the centre in the form of the European Commission. T3 - FÖV Discussion Papers - 90 KW - Covid-19 KW - Crisis reaction KW - European Union KW - Informal arenas KW - Franco-German partnership KW - European Integration KW - Crisis Governance KW - Informality Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0246-opus4-49799 UN - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0246-opus4-49799 SN - 1868-971X SS - 1868-971X SP - 54 S1 - 54 PB - Deutsches Forschungsinstitut für Öffentliche Verwaltung CY - Speyer ER -