ABSTRACT
Crises are a major driving force behind cooperation in the European Union. During severe crises, cooperation has been enlarged and intensified. The Ukrainian war and the covid-19 pandemic are two examples of this pattern, not least when it comes to the conduct of stabilization policies in the EU. In this chapter, we discuss the implications for the EU of a move towards increased fiscal federalism. First, the role of crises as a driver of political change is analysed. Next, we examine in greater detail, the effect of crises on the design of stabilisation policies in the EU since the introduction of the euro, the common currency. Finally, we discuss the significance of the recent pandemic-induced steps towards increased federalism for the EU. We raise the question as to whether this is a desirable path for the future of European cooperation. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.
ABSTRACT
Smoking has been linked with both increased and decreased risk of COVID-19, prompting the hypothesis of a protective role of nicotine in the pathogenesis of the disease. Studies of the association between use of smokeless tobacco and COVID-19 would help refining this hypothesis. We analysed data from 424,386 residents in the Stockholm Region, Sweden, with information on smoking and smokeless tobacco (snus) use prior to the pandemic obtained from dental records. Diagnoses of COVID-19 between February and October 2020 were obtained from health-care registers. We estimated the risk of receiving a diagnosis of COVID-19 for current smokers and for current snus users relative to non-users of tobacco, adjusting for potential confounders (aRR). The aRR of COVID -19 was elevated for current snus users (1.09 ;95%CI = 0.99-1.21 among men and 1.15; 95%CI = 1.00-1.33 among women). The risk for women consuming more than 1 can/day was twice as high as among non-users of tobacco. Current smoking was negatively associated with risk of COVID-19 (aRR = 0.68; 95% CI = 0.61-0.75); including hospital admission (aRR = 0.60; 95% CI = 0.47-0.76) and intensive care (aRR = 0.43; 95% CI = 0.21-0.89). The hypothesis of a protective effect of tobacco nicotine on COVID-19 was not supported by the findings. The negative association between smoking and COVID-19 remains unexplained.