COVID-19 Crisis and EU: Liberal Values versus National Interest

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis, a great question arose about the possibility of applying liberal ideas in international politics and whether the national interest would prevail over liberal values in the international system. The EU is one of the most prominent of these case studies, as the countries of the EU suffered from weak collective efforts to combat the spread of COVID-19. This article aims to analyze whether the national interest will prevail over the liberal values of the European Union or not during the crises. This article argues that liberal values flourished tremendously in peace, but in times of crisis, liberal values are put to the test. Sometimes they can fail because national interest calculations are embedded deeply in nation-states. As long as liberal ideas converge with the national interest of nations, liberal institutions like the European Union can stand strong.