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The tripartite EU agency providing knowledge to assist
in the development of better social, employment and
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COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch

Database of national-level responses

Eurofound's COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the crisis, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.

Overview

COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch currently contains 1428 measures introduced by governments and social partners to cushion the social and economic effects on businesses, workers and citizens.

Use the side navigation to find measures by country, type of measure, category, or target group.

Categories

Target groups

The database indicates for each measure to which target groups it applies, broadly differentiating between workers, businesses and citizens.

The database contains 42 specific target groups, including for example:

Recently updated measures

Special Act on sickness benefits and flexible distribution of work

The Parliament has passed a special law granting employers and self-employed state reimbursement from the first day of sick leave for those infected or quarantined by COVID-19. In addition, the gover...

Denmark | 01 December 2021

Aarhus municipality establishes new initiatives with the goal of alleviating unemployment among young academics

The lockdown of society caused by COVID-19 has left many academics unemployed. Especially the young academics have had more difficulty than usual finding their way into the job market. To help the you...

Denmark | 01 December 2021

Extra package of support measures for the cultural sector

The Dutch government presented a package of emergency measures to support businesses and workers during the COVID-19 crisis. However, the cultural and creative sector, especially badly hit, expressed ...

Netherlands | 01 December 2021

Involvement of social partners in legislation

Eurofound identified 913 legislations and other statutory regulations, 556 of which have been created entirely new in the context of COVID-19. This section gives an overview of social partner's involvement in designing and implementing these measures.

Role of employers' organisations in designing the measure

  • In 497 measures, employers' organisations were involved:
  • In 244 measures, there was no involvement;
  • For the 172 remaining measures the involvement is unknown, or they were considered as being out of the social partner's domain.

Role of trade unions in designing the measure

  • In 459 measures, trade unions were involved:
  • In 260 measures, there was no involvement;
  • For the 194 remaining measures the involvement is unknown, or they were considered as being out of the social partner's domain.

Implementation, monitoring and assessment phase

  • In 159 measures, social partners were involved:
  • In the remaining 754 measures, there was no involvement or the involvement is unknown.

    • Measures to promote recruitment in the entertainment sector

      On 11 May 2021, the government announced measures to promote recruitment in the entertainment sector at the National Council for the Entertainment Industry - a tripartite body that can be consulted by...

      France | 23 October 2021

      Support plan for the self-employed

      'To respond to the challenges faced by the self-employed', the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, unveiled a support plan for the self-employed on 16 September 2021. Although the plan is not ...

      France | 23 October 2021

      Companies Capitalisation Fund

      Given the current scenario and what is expected in the near future, namely in terms of progressive deconfinement, the Government believes it is necessary to adopt additional measures to strengthen the...

      Portugal | 19 October 2021

Collective agreements

The COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch database contains 124 collective agreements. Most of them were identified in France and the most commonly found provisions relate to employment retention, health and safety, and income protection.

Contents

26 agreements additionally contain other provisions not mentioned above.

Social partner initiatives

The COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch database contains 78 social partner initiatives. Most of them were identified in Germany and belong to the category Protection of workers, adaptation of workplace.

Main themes

Company practices

The COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch database contains 141 company practices. Most of them were identified in United Kingdom and the most commonly found provisions relate to health and safety, work organisation, and telework.

Contents

41 company practices additionally contain other provisions not mentioned above.

    • Enter Air signs loan agreement for €60 million

      Enter Air signed an agreement with the Polish Development Fund (PFR) under which it is to receive a liquidity loan from the Financial Shield 2.0 (for large companies) in the amount of PLN 287 million ...

      Poland | 19 April 2021

      Liquidity loan for Polish Mining Group

      In late March the application of the Polish Mining Group (Polska Grupa Górnicza, PGG) for financial aid under the Financial Shield 2.0 scheme was approved. As a result the company will receive a liqui...

      Poland | 15 April 2021

      Danske Bank gives employees a grant to upgrade their workspace at home

      After the introduction of quarantine in Lithuania (the first quarantine lasted from 16 March to 16 June 2020 and the second quarantine was introduced on 7 November 2020), most companies and organisati...

      Lithuania | 13 April 2021

Disclaimer: This information has not been subject to the full Eurofound evaluation, editorial and publication process. All information is preliminary and subject to change.