Covid-19 – Novel coronavirus outbreak in Europe and the EU response

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:

1. 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.
2. Ensuring the provision of medical equipment by ramping up production of medical devices, issuing calls for production of medical equipment, and negotiating new supplies.
3. Helping researchers to find a vaccine quickly, through existing research programmes
4. 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:

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