The European Parliament Under COVID-19: Institutional Adaptation in Times of Pandemics

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 crisis has forced the European Parliament to face a sudden process of digitalisation and remote participation. Therefore, it is a test of its institutional resilience and its capacity to ensure a working democracy. This chapter discusses how the pandemic has affected internal procedures and the role of different actors. It draws on an online survey and in-depth interviews to explain (1) the main processes of adaptation;(2) to what extent these processes reflect radical or rather incremental changes;(3) how these changes have been perceived by different categories of EP actors and (4) which changes might survive the pandemic. We show that the sense of urgency and necessity given by the crisis has accelerated a process of digitalisation and centralisation that was already in motion, leaving a long-lasting imprint on the working culture of the European Parliament. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.