City Research Online

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic challenged the European Union’s border law, testing its fundamental principle of free movement against the imperative of public health protection. This article examines how the Union managed tensions between these values from March 2020 to June 2023, highlighting the evolving dynamics of internal and external border controls. The analysis identifies four key themes which remain an EU law legacy from the pandemic: reinterpretation of the rule/exception structure to integrate health concerns; deployment of selective mobility across geopolitical and individual dimensions; strategic use of soft law instruments to guide national measures; and reliance on technocratic governance to steer coordinated responses. By exploring these themes across distinct pandemic phases, the article demonstrates how Union COVID-19 border law exemplifies the integration of public health as a value and underscores the need to reconcile this with the Union’s legal framework on free movement.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Reprinted from Common Market Law Review, with permission of Kluwer Law International.
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) Q Science > QR Microbiology R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Departments:	The City Law School The City Law School > Academic Programmes The City Law School > Institute for the Study of European Laws
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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