Locally decentralised responses to the European recovery: exploring the role of the Euratom Treaty and the ESM

Abstract

The pandemic stressed the key role of sustainable consumption and production patterns and highlighted the role of local systems as key actors of a recovery aiming at enhanced resilience to endogenous and exogenous shocks. Although the Recovery Plan marked a radical shift in the attitude of the EU towards crisis management and allowed for an unprecedented joint financial effort, it might not be enough for tackling the challenges ahead. In this paper we suggest that two instruments should be further explored for this purpose: the Euratom Treaty and the European Stability Mechanism.