Abstract

The epidemiological emergency has led to a momentous breakdown, which has increased the complex relations between the European Union and the national States. The tensions generated by the emergency and the search for solutions to the crisis could however produce virtuous effects on the integration process. The article aims to analyze these relations through four in-depth studies: the European response to the health emergency; the judgment of the German constitutional Tribunal on the ECB’s monetary policy; the identification by the European institutions of appropriate measures for economic recovery; above all, the exponential growth of the role of the “Customs Stateµ, through the tool of the golden powers. The result is a composite picture, which could lead to an acceleration of the process of European integration or to an involution of such process.