The high representative and the Covid-19 crisis: a preliminary assessment

Abstract

In the first half of 2020 national and EU leaders faced the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. As chair of the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) and as Vice President (VP) of the European Commission, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP) might play an important role in EU response to the Covid-19 crisis. Our article provides a preliminary assessment of the third post-Lisbon HR/VP Josep Borrell during his first seven months in office, with special attention to the outbreak of the global pandemic. By doing so, it also highlights the problems and prospects that the global pandemic revealed about EU foreign policy.