COVID-19: Commission sets out European coordinated response to counter the economic impact of the Coronavirus

Press conference

 

COVID-19 is a severe public health emergency for our citizens, societies and economies with infections in all Member States. It is also a major economic shock to the EU. The Commission therefore presents today an immediate response to mitigate the socio-economic impact of  the COVID-19 outbreak, centred on a European coordinated response.

Instruments to mitigate the pandemic

The Commission will use all the instruments at its disposal to mitigate the consequences of the pandemic, in particular:

–          To ensure the necessary supplies to our health systems by preserving the integrity of the Single Market and of production and distribution of value chains;

–          To support people so that income and jobs are not affected disproportionally and to avoid permanent effect of this crisis;

–          To support firms and ensure that the liquidity of our financial sector can continue to support the economy

–          And to allow Member States to act decisively in a coordinated way, through using the full flexibility of our State Aid and Stability and Growth Pact Frameworks.

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said: “The Coronavirus pandemic is testing us all. This is not only an unprecedented challenge for our healthcare systems, but also a major shock for our economies. The important economic package announced today deal with the situation of today. We stand ready to do more as the situation evolves. We will do whatever is necessary to support the Europeans and the European economy.”

Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative

Under this new initiative, the Commission proposes to direct EUR 37 billion under Cohesion policy to the fight against the Coronavirus crisis. To this effect, the Commission proposes to relinquish this year its obligation to request Member States to refund unspent pre-financing for the structural funds. This amounts to about EUR 8 billion from the EU budget, which Member States will be able to use to supplement EUR 29 billion of structural funding across the EU. This will effectively increase the amount of investment in 2020 and help to front-load the use of the as yet unallocated EUR 40 billion of cohesion policy funding within the 2014-2020 cohesion policy programmes. The Commission calls upon the European Parliament and the Council to swiftly approve this proposal, so that it can be adopted within the next two weeks.

In addition, the Commission is proposing to extend the scope of the EU Solidarity Fund by also including a public health crisis within its scope, in view of mobilising it if needed for the hardest hit Member States. Up to EUR 800 million is available in 2020. The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund has up to EUR175 million available in to mobilise support for dismissed workers and the self-employed.

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