European Foundation
for the Improvement of
Living and Working Conditions
The tripartite EU agency providing knowledge to assist
in the development of better social, employment and
work-related policies
European Foundation
for the Improvement of
Living and Working Conditions
The tripartite EU agency providing knowledge to assist
in the development of better social, employment and
work-related policies
Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.
The EU PolicyWatch database currently contains 2,228 measures introduced by governments and social partners to cushion the social and economic effects on businesses, workers and citizens. The data collection started in 2020 and was last updated in January 2023. More information is available on the Eurofound website:
Use the side navigation to find measures by country, type of measure, category, or target group. Use the dashboard to search and filter policy measures on the following topics by more than 15 attributes:
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:
In the event of employer insolvency, affected employees are paid statutory minimum payments - statutory redundancy (if applicable), unpaid wages - through the government's Social Insurance Fund (SIF),...
Ireland | 05 January 2023
Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme (EFG)
Launched in 2009, the [Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme (EFG)](https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/ourpartners/supporting-business-loans-enterprise-finance-guarantee/about-efg/), run by the gov...
United Kingdom | 05 January 2023
The [Women in Innovation Awards programme](https://ktn-uk.org/programme/women-in-innovation/), established in 2016 by Innovate UK, the UK's innovation agency, provides financial support and practical ...
United Kingdom | 05 January 2023
Eurofound identified 1516 pieces of legislation and other statutory regulations, 867 of which were entirely new. This section gives an overview of social partner' involvement in designing and implementing these measures.
In the event of employer insolvency, affected employees are paid statutory minimum payments - statutory redundancy (if applicable), unpaid wages - through the government's Social Insurance Fund (SIF),...
Ireland | 05 January 2023
Social protection of employees in the context of the armed conflict in Ukraine
By Emergency Ordinance, the Executive has regulated indemnity for employees that have lost their jobs directly or indirectly by the impossibility of conducting transactions with economic operators in ...
Romania | 16 November 2022
Restructuring of budgetary tax obligations
In order to revitalize the economy and avoid insolvency proceedings, the mechanism for restructuring budgetary obligations, introduced by Government Ordinance No. 6/2019, has been extended by includin...
Romania | 16 November 2022
The EU PolicyWatch database contains 135 collective agreements. Most of them were identified in Germany and the most commonly found provisions relate to employment retention, income protection, and health and safety.
27 agreements additionally contain other provisions not mentioned above.
Working time accounts are spreading, resulting in concerns over employees' risk of losing credits and reimbursement in the case of employer insolvency. While the 2009 Act for improving the framework c...
Germany | 23 June 2022
The massive economic downturn of 1992 and 1993 drove up mass unemployment in Germany and intensified the pressure on collective bargaining. Public employment policy was subject to limitations due to t...
Germany | 23 June 2022
The Norwegian layoff scheme ensures that an employer can temporarily lay off employees, if there is a justifiable basis for this and the need is temporary. Justifiable reasons may be low influx of ord...
Norway | 23 June 2022
The EU PolicyWatch database contains 91 social partner initiatives. Most of them were identified in Austria and belong to the category Protection of workers, adaptation of workplace.
European rail transport threatened by soaring electricity prices
On 9 September 2022 the the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), together with the European Rail Freight Association (ERFA), called on the European Commission and Member ...
European Union | 17 September 2022
Digi-Cheque for upskilling apprentices
In order to actively support apprentices and companies providing apprenticeship trainings with the challenges caused by the COVID-19 crisis, financial support for supplementary training measures is pr...
Austria | 14 September 2022
Mortgage loan deferral for people in financial distress
Given the increasing cost of living and the continuous reporting of households being affected by the ongoing crisis, the sectoral federation/employers' association Febelfin (Belgische Federatie van de...
Belgium | 09 September 2022
The EU PolicyWatch database contains 152 company practices. Most of them were identified in Bulgaria and the most commonly found provisions relate to health and safety, work organisation, and telework.
42 company practices additionally contain other provisions not mentioned above.
Financial benefits for coal industry workers
Polska Grópa Górnicza S.A. (PGG, the Polish Mining Group), the biggest coal producer in the EU, agreed to pay compensatory benefits to the coal industry workers. The measure aims to cover for inflatio...
Poland | 12 September 2022
Free healthcare offered by LUX MED for refugees from Ukraine
As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which started on 24 February 2022, many people entered Poland to seek refuge. The LUX MED Group decided to offer free urgent medical assistance to all t...
Poland | 20 May 2022
Lidl offers jobs and language training to Ukrainians in Bulgaria
Lidl Bulgaria advertised job opportunities for several locations. All cities, covered by Lidl job offers, receive large groups of refugees from Ukraine. The job offers are in Ukrainian language, supp...
Bulgaria | 16 May 2022
Due to the revision process, some cases might temporarily be unavailable.
The database is updated regularly throughout the year with input from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents. This document provides information on the topical updates of the EU PolicyWatch database.
30 January 2023
Governments across the EU continue to implement policies to support citizens and businesses in the face of rising food and energy prices caused by the COVID-19 crisis and intensified by the war in Ukraine. As winter approaches, preventing and addressing energy poverty becomes a priority. This article summarises the policy responses as reported in Eurofound’s EU PolicyWatch database from January to September 2022.
Article
12 September 2022
Although the worldwide pandemic situation had already disrupted supply chains and triggered increases in energy and food prices in 2021, the situation deteriorated in 2022 with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Article
12 September 2022
Policies to support EU companies affected by the war in Ukraine
This article summarises the first policy responses that governments across the EU have started to implement to support companies affected by the rising prices, and those with commercial ties to Ukraine, Russia or Belarus.
5 July 2022
This article summarises the first policy responses of EU Member States, including those of the social partners and other civil society actors, enabling refugees to exercise their rights under the Temporary Protection Directive.
ArticleDisclaimer: This information has not been subject to the full Eurofound evaluation, editorial and publication process.