The crisis of the neoliberal model of the European Union through the cases of France and Spain, after the Pandemic and in the face of the war in Ukraine

Abstract

The health contingency 2020-2023 was a shock for the world economy and for the stability of States and their alliances. European countries have faced the management of the pandemic totally conditioned by the last decades of neoliberal social and economic paradigm, although governments and international institutions have promoted interventionist policies in the economy, neo-Keynesian. It has also been a period during which appeals to society have appeared again. Moreover, the war in Ukraine has had consequences in Europe, such as economic sanctions against Russia, problems related to fundamental freedoms (specifically press freedom) and the influence of us interests on European diplomacy. This article proposes to contrast the current sociopolitical reality of the European Union with the management capacities shown during the pandemic. For this we will deal specifically with the cases of Spain and France, neighboring countries, which can show the general trends with their more concrete edges. Data from national statistical institutes such as INSEE in the case of France are used to analyze the situation in both countries. In the end the article led to question the viability of the European Union and emphasize the failure of policies promoted by the European Commission that follow a neoliberal framework despite the inevitable intervention of the State in the economy in the pandemic context, post pandemic, and now war in Ukraine.