TransCrisis: Enhancing the EU’s Transboundary Crisis Management Capacities: Strategies for Multi-level Leadership

The project aims to:

• advance our understanding of crisis management capacities across institutions within a multi-level governance setting
• contribute to debates in the world of practice appropriate governance arrangements in the light of transboundary crises, especially in relation to EU institutions
• promote public debate about transboundary crises and what citizens might expect from crisis leadership in a multi-level system.

Transboundary crises are at the core of the 'new normal' that characterises politics and policy-making in Europe. The financial crisis and the ongoing debates about the governance of the Eurozone have highlighted the interdependencies among member states, and crises such as the horsemeat scandal, have pointed to the complexities of international production chains, and the limits of existing oversight procedures. Other crises, such as the Icelandic ash cloud, floods, oil spills, let alone geo-political crises have illustrated that crises usually do not stop at political boundaries. In a world where politics has lost its boundary control, the importance of managing transboundary crisis points to the critical role that the European Union can play. However, this realisation comes at a time of growing scepticism regarding the effectiveness and legitimacy of the European Union, and a re-nationalisation of politics.

To advance our understanding of the capacities and limits affecting crisis management and leadership in the European Union and to develop high-impact policy recommendations, this project focuses on a number of distinct components, ranging from (i) the role of European political leaders, their capacities and their responsiveness to public opinion, (ii) the crisis management capacities of EU institutions, and (iii) the interaction between the EU and national political-administrative systems in managing crises.