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Shaping governance through crises: variations of joint purchasing in the EU

Published on January 26, 2026 – Updated on January 26, 2026

Séminaire axe Europe with Giorgia Castiello (Scuola Normale Superiore)




Abstract

Over the past five years, the European Union has faced three major crises: the COVID-19 pandemic, the energy and security crises. To tackle them, the EU adopted a common response strategy by establishing at supranational level some joint purchasing mechanisms to address shortages of vaccines, gas, and military capabilities. However, the EU's competence to act in the health, energy and defence sectors is limited, as these remain primarily a Member States' responsibility. Although conceived with the same objective, the joint purchasing mechanism’s governance differed substantially. During the pandemic the European Commission was delegated the authority to procure vaccines on Member States’ behalf, nevertheless this neither occurred in the energy nor in the defence cases. The purpose of this paper is to analyse through the lens of the theory of indirect governance and by relying on an in-depth process-tracing analysis, why the governance of the purchasing initiatives differs.

 

Dates
On the February 23, 2026

12:30 - 13:30

Location

IEE - Institut d'études européennes

KANT Room

39, Av. F.D. Roosevelt, 1050 Ixelles