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

EU PolicyWatch

Database of national-level policy measures

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.

Overview

The EU PolicyWatch database currently contains 2,367 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 June 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:

  • COVID-19: 1692 policy measures
  • War in Ukraine: 458 policy measures
  • Green Transition: 140 policy measures
  • Digital Transformation: 79 policy measures
  • Restructuring Support Instruments: 307 policy measures
Dashboard

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

Ensuring transparency of retail prices for consumers

Recently, the prices of food in general and some elementary ingredients, in particular, have surged to unprecedented levels. In 2022, food and non-alcoholic drinks prices rose by more than 10% compare...

Slovenia | 06 June 2023

Energy tax credit based on income level replaces second wage indexation

In the context of the price increase, the government has undertaken to introduce a new energy tax credit in return for the shift in the index bracket scheduled for August 2022, as well as the increase...

Luxembourg | 02 June 2023

Loans to the agricultural sector

In compliance with the Order No 3D-518 and the Order No 3D-852 of the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania, on 11 October 2022, the National Agricultural Credit Guarantee Fund (NACGF),...

Lithuania | 02 June 2023

Involvement of social partners in legislation

Eurofound identified 1618 pieces of legislation and other statutory regulations, 939 of which were entirely new. This section gives an overview of social partner' involvement in designing and implementing these measures.

Role of employers' organisations in designing the measure

  • In 735 measures, employers' organisations were involved:
  • In 383 measures, there was no involvement;
  • For the 500 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 685 measures, trade unions were involved:
  • In 417 measures, there was no involvement;
  • For the 516 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 270 measures, social partners were involved:
  • In the remaining 1348 measures, there was no involvement or the involvement is unknown.

    • Extraordinary guardianship for the minors from Ukraine

      On 3 March 2022, the Latvian Parliament Saeima adopted the Law on Assistance to Ukrainian Civilians. The purpose of the Law is to provide assistance to Ukrainian civilians who leave Ukraine or who can...

      Latvia | 14 April 2023

      Social services and social assistance for Ukrainian civilians

      On 3 March 2022, the Latvian Parliament Saeima adopted the Law on Assistance to Ukrainian Civilians. The purpose of the Law is to provide assistance to Ukrainian civilians who leave Ukraine or who can...

      Latvia | 14 April 2023

      Support for energy-intensive manufacturing companies

      As the price of energy resources was still extraordinarily high, the government has decided to approve the support for energy-intensive manufacturing companies. The assistance package was prepared by ...

      Latvia | 06 April 2023

Collective agreements

The EU PolicyWatch database contains 142 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.

Contents

29 agreements additionally contain other provisions not mentioned above.

Social partner initiatives

The EU PolicyWatch database contains 92 social partner initiatives. Most of them were identified in Austria and belong to the category Protection of workers, adaptation of workplace.

Main themes

Company practices

The EU PolicyWatch database contains 154 company practices. Most of them were identified in Bulgaria and the most commonly found provisions relate to health and safety, work organisation, and telework.

Contents

43 company practices additionally contain other provisions not mentioned above.

    • Kaufland is introducing a new reusable packaging system

      The supermarket chain Kaufland was the first retailer in Croatia to stop the sale of lightweight plastic bags. The new rule has taken effect from 1 January 2020. Aiming to reduce plastic in the enviro...

      Croatia | 12 April 2023

      Introduction of first full length-electric buses in Cyprus

      The Limassol Bus Company (EMEL) and the Cyprus Public Transport (CPT), operating in Nicosia and Larnaca, have announced the introduction of the first full-length electric buses in Cyprus. The introduc...

      Cyprus | 31 January 2023

      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

Due to the revision process, some cases might temporarily be unavailable.

Information on topical updates

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.

Eurofound publications based on EU PolicyWatch

30 January 2023

 

Measures to lessen the impact of the inflation and energy crisis on citizens

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. This article summarises the policy responses as reported in Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch database from January to September 2022.

Article

12 September 2022

 

First responses to cushion the impact of inflation on citizens

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.

Article

5 July 2022

 

Policies to support refugees from Ukraine

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.

Article

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