The COVID-19 pandemic, due to lockdowns in Europe and in the rest of the world, led to a sudden fallout of demand, which severely affected European Union (EU) industries. At the same time, crises in multiple supply chains across a variety of sectors occurred – especially so in the case of internationalised and complex value chains – aggravated by limited stocks due to lean business models. On a positive note, some sectors saw a spike in production; notably digital industries, the pharmaceutical sector and, to some extent, the food sector. At the same time, unprecedented policy responses have been initiated across Europe and the globe – in an attempt to mitigate the impacts of this unprecedented economic shock and to help the recovery. The COVID-19 crisis therefore raises three main questions to policy makers, which this study aims to address:
- How (hard) is the impact of COVID-19 on our economy and how is the impact distributed amongst different sectors?
- How comprehensive are the recovery packages in place and to what extent are they efficient and effective to address the crisis?
- What structural changes has the crisis caused to our economy and the organisation of our value chains and which value chains should be considered as strategic and what are the implications on the strategic autonomy and digital sovereignty of the EU?
This project was awarded under the Framework Contract on Economic Analysis of Environmental Policies and Analytical Support in the Context of Better Regulation (n ENV.F.1/FRA/2019/0001) with the European Commission, DG ENV. The full list of CEPS’ Framework Contracts is available here.
