QFour years have passed since the first wave of the Covid-19 epidemic, plunging our continent into a previously unimaginable nightmare. Most Europeans spent the Easter holidays isolated from loved ones, fearing not only for their health, but also for their livelihoods, as economic activity collapsed.
The European single market faced severe fragmentation: the richest countries could spend whatever it took to protect their workers and businesses, but what about those facing high public debt ? Tensions between North and South, the bitter legacy of the euro crisis of the early 2010s had not yet been resolved: the arguments in favor of European solidarity were clear, but it was not easy to translate them into common action.
The outcome emerged just hours before the Easter weekend. After an 18-hour video conference, European Union (EU) finance ministers gave their support to a broad package of economic support measures. SAFE [acronyme de Support to Mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency, que l’on peut traduire par « soutien pour atténuer les risques de chômage en cas d’urgence »]an innovative program of 100 billion euros, allowed the European Commission to raise funds on the markets in order to lend to Member States at favorable rates, to finance partial unemployment schemes offering income to laid-off workers while they wait. to get their jobs back.
For inclusive transitions
SURE has been in place until the end of 2022 and its impact has been remarkable. The instrument supported around 31.5 million employees and self-employed workers and more than 2.5 million businesses, mainly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in the nineteen EU countries that have it. makes the request. It also helped pave the way for NextGenerationEU, the €800 billion funding package now supporting investment and reforms across the Union. Both played a vital role in ensuring that our economy could quickly emerge from the Covid-19 shock, thereby avoiding an even deeper socio-economic crisis.
Since the pandemic, the European labor market has continued to evolve. A historically low unemployment rate masks persistent labor and skills shortages. The European social market economy model has stood the test of time, but the massive economic and demographic transformations we face today pose an enormous challenge.
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