Crisis-Induced Institutionalization: How the Commission's Response to the Eurozone Crisis Shaped Its Influence During the Covid-19 Pandemic

A prevailing argument in the EU literature centers on the relative roles of the European Commission and the European Council during crises, with some contending that the Commission has been sidelined as national governments move to reassert their authority. This paper offers a different reading of that debate by drawing on crisis management research, organizational learning studies, and institutional theory to explain how the Commission's responses to one crisis became institutionalized and shaped its governance approach in subsequent crises. In contrast to single-case studies or analytical “snapshots,” this approach takes a mid-range temporality perspective to show how institutional power relations in crisis management change over time. Using original interviews and text analysis to explore the dynamics of crisis management over the course of these two crises, our analysis shows the Commission used the opportunity to increase its influence in shaping the architecture of the Union's economic governance.