Written by Clare Ferguson with Tom Smith, Updated on 13 July 2020

Throughout the coronavirus crisis, the European Union (EU) and its Member States have implemented a number of radical measures to combat the spread of the virus and, more recently, to begin the process of reopening economies and returning to normal life. As the crisis has developed, it has introduced a variety of new challenges that have required quick and effective resolutions. In response to these challenges, the European Parliamentary Research Service has published a number of research papers on a wide range of subjects relevant to the coronavirus crisis.
The initial spread of the novel coronavirus rapidly intensified, with the World Health Organization designating the virus as a pandemic just a few months after the initial outbreak, leading to a need for emergency public health measures to save lives across the world. In response to this initial problem, the EU stepped in to play a coordinating role, complementing national policies to help countries face common challenges, such as a lack of sufficient healthcare organisation and provision, so that each Member State was better prepared for the healthcare challenges posed by the virus.
In March, following a special meeting by videoconference of the Heads of State or Government of the 27 EU Member States, the EU identified four specific priorities for its coronavirus response strategy:
- Limiting the spread of the virus, including assessing the risk and closing external borders so that internal borders can remain open to allow the single market to function.
- Ensuring the provision of medical equipment by ramping up production of medical devices, issuing calls for production of medical equipment, and negotiating new supplies.
- Helping researchers to find a vaccine quickly, through existing research programmes
- Aiding EU Member States to weather the social and economic impact of the pandemic.

In response to the designation of these four priorities, the EU worked quickly to deal with each one effectively. To limit the spread of the virus, the EU closed its borders to non-essential travel whilst introducing green lanes to enable essential goods to continue to move through the EU. To ensure Member States were able to access medical equipment, the EU created the first ever RescEU stockpile of medical equipment such as ventilators and protective masks, enabling Member States facing equipment shortages to quickly procure the supplies they needed. In terms of research, the EU’s Horizon 2020 research programme is funding 18 research programmes and 151 research teams across Europe, with researchers working on a variety of tasks, such as rapid point-of-care diagnostic tests and the development of vaccines and new treatments.An initial €45 million was committed to the project, whilst on 19 May 2020, a further €122 million was allocated to the programme. The EU has also worked to provide economic support to EU Member States, underlined by the recently revised proposal for the EU multiannual financial framework, including a €750 billion fiscal stimulus to enable Member States to cope with the economic impact of coronavirus (€500 billion in grants and €250 billion in loans), along with other flexibility measures and monetary stimulus.
As the focus now turns to the issue of safely reopening European economies, the EU has proposed a number of ideas that would enable the safe resumption of travel within the EU. The proposals argue for a common EU approach to lifting travel restrictions, which would provide a much-needed boost to the travel industry, a key component of the European economy.
As well as providing support on issues such as healthcare and the economy, the EU has also worked to combat the Covid-19 ‘infodemic’ that has accompanied the pandemic. EU citizens need to be able to trust the information they receive on such a vital issue, and the EU has provided a number of resources which help to prevent the dissemination of such harmful disinformation, ensuring that EU citizens are able to distinguish between what is true and what is not. Support has also been strengthened for the Health Security Committee to provide aligned information throughout the EU on the virus.
EPRS publications on the topic include:
On the impact of the crisis and the EU’s response:
Economic and Social Policies
- Tracking key coronavirus restrictions on movement and social life in the EU Member States
- Lifting coronavirus restrictions: The role of therapeutics, testing, and contact-tracing apps
- The EU’s public health strategy post-Covid-19
- European economic recovery
- Just Transition Fund
- Economic and monetary union
- A more resilient, sustainable and fair Europe after coronavirus?
- Living in the EU: Work before the coronavirus crisis
- Cross-border regional healthcare cooperation to combat the coronavirus pandemic
- European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control: During the pandemic and beyond
- Single market and the pandemic: Impacts, EU action and recovery
- State aid and the pandemic: How State aid can back coronavirus economic support measures
- Impact of coronavirus on EU aid to the most deprived
- How digital technology is easing the burden of confinement
- Coronavirus and the cost of non-Europe: An analysis of the economic benefits of common European action
- EU research and innovation programmes in the fight against coronavirus
- Coronavirus and the trade in wildlife
- Addressing shortages of medicines
- State aid and the pandemic: How State aid can back coronavirus economic support measures
- Developing a pandemic emergency purchase programme: Unconventional monetary policy to tackle the coronavirus crisis
- Coronavirus and the world of work
- Added value of a common EU response to the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic
- European Green Deal Investment Plan: Main elements and possible impact of the coronavirus pandemic
- Temporary support to mitigate unemployment risks in an emergency (SURE)
- Impact of coronavirus on energy markets
- Impact of the coronavirus crisis on climate action and the European Green Deal
- Towards a joint European approach on vaccination
- EU 27 support for national short-time work schemes
- Joint debt instruments: A recurrent proposal to strengthen economic and monetary union
- The ‘general escape clause’ within the Stability and Growth Pact: Fiscal flexibility for severe economic shocks
- European Union response to coronavirus threat DE, FR
- Financial assistance for countries seriously affected by a major public health emergency (26 March plenary session)
- What can the EU do to alleviate the impact of the coronavirus crisis?
- Economic impact of epidemics and pandemics
- Addressing health inequalities in the European Union: Concepts, action, state of play
EU Financing / Budgetary Affairs
- Amended proposal for the 2021-2027 MFF and 2021-2024 recovery instrument ‘Next Generation EU’ in figures
- Next Generation EU: A European instrument to counter the impact of the coronavirus pandemic
- Parliament’s guidelines for the 2021 EU budget: Section III – European Commission
- Mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund – Technical assistance
- EU budgetary and financial response to the coronavirus crisis
- Establishing an MFF contingency plan
- The EU’s 2020 budget: response to the coronavirus epidemic (16 April plenary session)
- Amendment of the 2014-2020 MFF regulation. Using the global margin for commitments to finance measures in the healthcare sector under the Emergency Support Instrument (16 April plenary session)
- Amending Budget No 1/2020: Support to Greece to face migration pressure, measures to fight coronavirus and reconstruction assistance to Albania (16 April plenary session)
- Amending Budget No 2/2020: Emergency support to the health sector to respond to the coronavirus outbreak (16 April plenary session)
- Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative (26 March plenary session)
Institutional and Legal Affairs
- States of emergency in response to the coronavirus crisis: Situation in certain Member States IV
- Coronavirus and prisons in the EU: Member-State measures to reduce spread of the virus
- The practice of democracy: A selection of civic engagement initiatives
- States of emergency in response to the coronavirus crisis: Situation in certain Member States III
- Coronavirus and elections in selected Member States
- Conference on the Future of Europe
- States of emergency in response to the coronavirus crisis: Situation in certain Member States II
- States of emergency in response to the coronavirus crisis: Situation in certain Member States
- Parliaments in emergency mode: How Member States’ parliaments are continuing with business during the pandemic
- Tackling the coronavirus outbreak: Impact on asylum-seekers in the EU
- Tracking mobile devices to fight coronavirus
- Repatriation of EU citizens during the Covid-19 crisis: The role of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism
- The impact of coronavirus on Schengen borders
- Temporary border controls in the Schengen area
International Relations
- Impact of the pandemic on elections around the world: From safety concerns to political crises
- Scenarios for geo-politics after coronavirus: A recent Atlantic Council analysis
- EU-Iran: The way forward – Can the JCPOA survive the Trump presidency?
- Coronavirus in south-east Asia: Health, political and economic impact
- CSDP missions and coronavirus
- The EU’s response to the coronavirus ‘infodemic’
- Towards a new EU strategy with Africa: A renewed focus on outreach
- Foreign policy consequences of coronavirus
- NATO’s response in the fight against coronavirus
- Sakharov Prize laureates in difficulty: Facing repression for defending human rights
- Food trade and food security in the coronavirus pandemic
- EU export authorisation scheme for personal protection equipment
- Coronavirus and international sanctions: Should sanctions be eased during the pandemic?
- World Health Organization: Is it fit for purpose?
- Macro-financial assistance to enlargement and neighbourhood partners in the coronavirus crisis
- The impact of coronavirus on media freedom
- Coronavirus in Africa: A crisis with multiple impacts
- China’s democratic neighbours and coronavirus: Protecting populations without lockdowns
- The role of the armed forces in the fight against coronavirus
- Australia’s restrictions on movement in response to the coronavirus pandemic
- Canada: Coronavirus movement restrictions and quarantine
- US federal and state travel limits and quarantine measures
- Russia and the coronavirus
- EU imports and exports of medical equipment
- The EU’s global response to coronavirus
- The EU’s response to coronavirus in its neighbourhood and beyond
- Countering the health ‘infodemic’
- Covid-19 foreign influence campaigns: Europe and the global battle of narratives
- Covid-19’s impact on human rights outside the EU
- Global and regional governance: Initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic
Structural and Cohesion Policies
- EU tourism sector during the coronavirus crisis
- Cultural tourism out of confinement
- The role of cohesion policy in tackling the socio-economic fallout from coronavirus
- Performing arts: Emerging from confinement
- Tourism and transport in 2020 and beyond
- EU rules on vouchers offered to passengers and travellers
- Education in isolation in the pandemic, following the path of Isaac Newton
- Demography on the European agenda: Strategies for tackling demographic decline
- Exceptional coronavirus support measures to benefit EU regions
- Coronavirus: Transport support package
- Mobility, transport and coronavirus
- EU shipping and ports facing coronavirus
- EU support for artists and the cultural sector during the coronavirus crisis
- Coronavirus and the European film industry
- Coronavirus crisis support for EU farmers
- Support for the fishing and aquaculture sectors in the coronavirus crisis (16 April plenary session)
- Specific flexibility measures for ESI funds in response to the coronavirus outbreak (16 April plenary session)
- Covid-19 and the tourism sector
- Protecting the EU agri-food supply chain in the face of Covid-19
- Suspension of EU rules on airport slot allocation (26 March plenary session)
The EU’s institutions and Covid-19:
- Plenary round up – Brussels, July 2020
- Plenary round up – Brussels, June 2020
- Key issues in the European Council: State of play in June 2020
- Plenary round up – Brussels, May 2020
- Plenary round-up – Brussels, April 2020
- Outcome of the video-conference call of EU Heads of State or Government on 26 March 2020
- European Parliament Plenary Session – April 2020
- Plenary round-up – Brussels, March II 2020
- European Parliament Plenary Session – March II 2020
- Remote voting in the European Parliament and national parliaments
- The European Council, health policy and pandemics
- EUCO as crisis manager the Covid-19 pandemic: Similarities and differences to previous crises
- Outcome of the video-conference call of EU Heads of State or Government on 17 March 2020
What Think Tanks are thinking:
Links to recent commentaries and reports from international think tanks:
- What Think Tanks are thinking: Tough decisions ahead
- What Think Tanks are thinking: The EU budget and coronavirus
- What Think Tanks are thinking: Coronavirus: an uncertain outlook
- What Think Tanks are thinking: Coronavirus and international power
- What Think Tanks are thinking: Coronavirus: Financing the recovery
- What Think Tanks are thinking: The coronavirus crisis: Options for economic recovery
- What Think Tanks are thinking: Coronavirus: The world in limbo
- What Think Tanks are thinking: Which ‘new normal’ after coronavirus?
- What Think Tanks are thinking: Coronavirus: From lock-down to de-confinement, and beyond
- What Think Tanks are thinking: Coronavirus: Implications for the EU
- What Think Tanks are thinking: Coronavirus: Impact and challenges
- What Think Tanks are thinking: Policy responses to the coronavirus crisis
- What Think Tanks are thinking: Coronavirus – what should policy-makers do?
- What Think Tanks are thinking: Coronavirus: Impact and reaction
- What Think Tanks are thinking: Coronavirus: The latest
- What Think Tanks are thinking: Coronavirus (Covid-19)
European Science–Media Hub
Scientific aspects of the crisis, from the ESMH, set up by EPRS on behalf of Parliament’s Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) to build better links between science, policy-makers and the media.
- Digital entertainment in lockdown: the new life of culture online
- “Unlocking” Covid-19: the use and misuse of tests
- From Covid-19 to climate change: seeing the issues beyond the news cycle
- European responses to the corona crisis – Part 11 (2 Jun to 18 Jun 2020)
- Covid-19: Harnessing the power of digital technologies and data sharing
- Covid-19: how our behaviour can help stop the coronavirus
- European responses to the corona crisis – Part 10 (21 May to 26 May 2020)
- Covid-19 in Africa: what is at stake?
- Fighting the ‘infodemic’: how coronavirus became the litmus test for tech companies’ struggle to contain mis- and disinformation.
- European responses to the corona crisis – Part 9 (15 May to 19 May 2020)
- Digital tracing, privacy and trust: the New Normalcy in Europe
- European responses to the corona crisis – Part 8 (9 May to 14 May 2020)
- European responses to the corona crisis – Part 7 (1 May to 8 May 2020)
- Covid-19: How uncertainty affects our consumer behaviour
- European responses to the corona crisis – Part 6 (25 April to 30 April 2020)
- European responses to the corona crisis – Part 5 (18 April to 24 April 2020)
- The differences between SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-Cov-2
- European responses to the corona crisis – Part 4 (11 April to 17 April 2020)
- European responses to the corona crisis – Part 3 (03 April to 10 April 2020)
- Which way for EU data governance during Covid-19?
- Covid-19: Boosting antiviral research
- European responses to the coronavirus – Part 2 (27 March to 03 April 2020)
- European responses to the coronavirus – Part 1 (12 to 27 March 2020)
- What if smartphones could help contain Covid-19?
- What if we could fight coronavirus with artificial intelligence?
- Treatment optimisation in drug development
- European Science Media Hub selected resources on coronavirus
- Interviews with leading virologists and health experts: Professor Alexander Kekule
- ESMH Press Review, special edition on coronavirus
- Misinformation in science: How false medical news on social media miseducates our society
- How to spot when news is fake
- European Science Media Hub interviews




[…] Read all EPRS publications on the coronavirus outbreak […]
[…] Read all EPRS publications on the coronavirus outbreak […]
« Previous 1 2