The Covid-19 Pandemic and the Eurozone: A Reconnaissance of E.U. Financial Assistance to Counteract the Coronavirus’s Perfect Storm

Abstract

As economic scholars and researchers are well aware the Covid-19 pandemic is severely affecting all the European Countries both from a health and economic-productive point of view, and it is not expected to be over before the spring of 2022. In order to counter the effects of this pandemic on the societies and economies of the 27 Member Countries of the EU, the European Institutions (in particular the ECB and the European Commission) have prepared an extensive series of financial assistance instruments, some of which have been developed from scratch while others that already exist have been adequately strengthened. The paper will preliminarily ascertain if Covid-19 was really a “perfect storm”, as such absolutely unpredictable, or if it was the consequence of unpreparedness and underestimation. Then the ordinary and extraordinary instruments of financial assistance which the European Institutions have made or will soon make available to the member Countries of the Eurozone to counteract the severe fall in GDP as well as the increase in the unemployment rate, will be investigated. Finally, some conclusions on the topic at stake will be drawn.