COVID-19 is a matter of common European interest since its very first detection on the continent. Yet this pandemic outbreak has largely been handled as an essentially national matter. This article makes a first attempt at unpacking how such fragmented, uncoordinated national responses to...

The COVID-19 outbreak offers a rich case study of government’s emergency response. As such, it is a test bed for risk research and regulatory theories in a world increasingly shaped by transboundary, uncertain manufactured and natural risks.This introductory essay to the special issue of the...

The European response to COVID-19 has revealed an inconvenient truth. Despite having integrated public health concerns across all its policies – be it agriculture, consumer protection, or security –, the Union cannot directly act to save people’s lives. Only member states can do so. Yet...

According to a familiar script, the EU has, in recent years, been subscribing to a progressive ideal of regulation based on evidence. Given the historical affection of the EU integration process to technocratic modes of governance, this choice is not surprising. Yet, as it emerges from the...

Emergency crises have always tested our ability to organise and swiftly execute a coordinated response. Both natural and unnatural disasters pose new questions to which previous experience provides only limited answers. These challenges are arguably greater than ever, in a more globalised world...

The aim of this study is to illustrate the role played by EC Courts in shaping the controversial precautionary principle which allows the adoption of protective measures in situations of scientific uncertainty. Called upon reviewing the legality of national and Community measures inspired by a...

This paper analyses the role that scientific experts and, more in general, scientific expertise play within European risk governance. While the first part of the paper looks at the way in which scientific expertise is integrated in the decision-making process, the second part examines how...

The exact role that public perception of risks, and more in general public opinion and consumer concerns, may, and ought to, play in risk decision-making is one of the most challenging, yet little explored, issues under WTO law. How does the WTO take into account public perceptions and ensuing...

At a time when policy makers want to change the behaviour of citizens to tackle a broad range of social problems, such as climate change, excessive drinking, obesity and crime, a promising new policy approach has appeared that seems capable of escaping the liberal reservations typically...

Although not originally foreseen in the founding Treaty, today the most important and widespread form of EU regulation in the internal market is concerned with the government of risk. Indeed, similarly to what occurred in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, the EU has in recent times...