Collateral risks from covid-19 crisis: Multilateralism and European integration 

In this article, José Ignacio Torreblanca, senior research, and head of the Madrid office of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), analyzes some collateral risks that could be accelerated by the covid-19 crisis at a European and international level and whose evolution will be fundamental for the recovery of the Spanish and European economy.

• Crisis of multilateralism and globalization: According to him, the world was already immersed in this crisis prior to the pandemic. However, the author defends that greater levels of international cooperation will be necessary from now on to manage this kind of crisis.
• European Union integration and the North-South gap: The lack of integration, in addition to undermining confidence in the European project, tends to widen the North-South gap in times of crisis. The priority must therefore be to design recovery strategies that don’t penalize the access of Spanish companies to the necessary financing to continue competing and accessing the European internal market. Moreover, he highlights how the relaxation of the rules on state aid might distort internal market and introduce new asymmetries.