Testing Times: Covid-19 and devolution in Europe

The UK is highly centralised by international standards. As the government turns to questions of devolution, is an important time to learn what does and does not work for some of our closest neighbours.

Recent years have seen renewed debate in different European countries about political authority below the national level. The Covid-19 pandemic may be well behind us now, but it was a shock which affected all countries, and so revealed how different central and local systems operate together. In particular, countries had to balance strong incentives for national measures to promote public health with effective local implementation, and there were also important debates about whether rules should be consistent across countries, or should be flexible to respond to different infection rates in different areas. Sometimes, this has led to lasting changes: in Germany, meetings between state ‘minister presidents’, the chancellor, and key national ministers grew greatly in prominence and have continued to have a high profile.

The aim of this collection of short essays is to dive into debates about devolution across Europe, often triggered by experiences with the Covid-19 pandemic, to inform the UK as it considers reform in this area.