The European Commission: Crisis and Crisis Management in the European Union: The European Council and European Commission Revisited

In the literature on the multiple crises that have affected the EU over more than a decade, the European Council has invariably been cast as the EU’s crisis manager. While not disagreeing that the European Council can play an important and sometimes unique role in addressing extraordinary and difficult challenges, this chapter argues that it is important to recognize both the limitations on the capacity of the European Council to undertake ‘crisis management’, and the ability of a wider set of EU actors equipped with a range of policy instruments to engage when serious problems confront the EU. Reviewing the period of the Juncker Presidency, this chapter examines the role played by the European Commission to address crises in areas commonly assumed to fall within the ambit of intergovernmental bodies.