新冠危機、歐盟復甦基金及其對歐洲統合的意涵：經濟治理的典範轉移

The COVID-19 Crisis, EU Recovery Fund and the Implications for European Integration: A Paradigm Shift in Economic Governance

歐盟針對新冠危機所創設的復甦基金，不論是就基金的性質或是其規模而言，都是前所未見的革命性作法，也將主導歐盟2020年代的經濟治理走向。本文的目的即在評估，復甦基金作為歐盟回應新冠危機所造成的經濟挑戰及疫後的經濟復甦，是否是正確的政策解答？並探討其對歐洲統合的意義與意涵。
本文指出，新冠疫情在歐盟社會的醫療與勞動市場歷經多年財政撙節的現狀下，於其安全韌性較低、風險係數較高的時機衝擊了歐盟，從而導致歐盟兩大疫情震央的形成。此一系統性的缺陷，證明了歐盟傳統經濟治理模式的不可持續性。歐盟的經濟治理不論是就實務性理由或道德層面之理由，均有必要做出遊戲規則的改變。基於此一評判觀點，本文認為復甦基金的政策設計，明顯地象徵歐盟經濟治理在意識形態與方法論上，出現了典範性轉移的改變。復甦基金的意義將不僅是因應疫後歐盟經濟復甦的當代救援方案，在疑歐的國家主義論者與親歐的統合主義者因疫情而匯聚的新共識中，復甦基金更對歐元區邁向財政聯盟的基礎建立、對歐盟執委會其組織職能的延展、對歐洲統合作為民族國家救援角色的再次彰顯，均意涵了重要的意義。
本文指出，新冠危機是歐盟在後英國脫歐時期向歐洲公民證明其存在正當性的關鍵機會。如果成功執行，復甦基金將可為歐洲統合展開新頁。如果失敗，歐洲統合將陷入更為分裂的風險，而受困於更為勢盛的反歐盟民粹主義浪潮中。

The EU’s latest decision on adopting the recovery fund was revolutionary both quantitatively and qualitatively. It would also dominate the EU’s economic governance of the decade of the 2020s. This paper is an attempt to evaluate whether the EU’s recovery fund was right policy answers to the post-COVID-19 EU economy or not, and explore its meanings and implications for European integration. This paper argues that the COVID-19 hit the EU at a time of its health and social precariousness and proved the conventional economic governance unsustainable. Necessities for game-changing in the post-COVID-19 economic governance were justified on both practical and moral grounds. Judging with these yardsticks, the EU’s recovery fund was evaluated as a welcomed paradigm shift in both the ideology and methodology of its economic governance. Beyond a contemporary economic rescue package, the recovery fund implied for laying the cornerstone of completing a fiscal union in the eurozone, for enhancing institutional functions of the European Commission, and for rediscovering the nature of European integration as the rescuer of national states, through the newly-forming consensus between Eurosceptic nationalists and pro-EU integrationists. This paper reminds that the COVID-19 crisis was a crucial opportunity for EU leadership to legitimize the EU’s existence in the post-Brexit era. If well implemented, the recovery fund could usher in a new chapter of European integration. If failed, European integration would be at risk of further fragmentation and entrench into ever-stronger anti-EU populism.