Less than one month after the start of lockdowns in many EU countries due to COVID-19 outbreak, the number of additional unemployed workers has crossed 4 million, with hundreds of thousands of companies closed and many unlikely to survive the emergency.

At the same time, measures to support companies facing difficulties and to provide workers suspended from work with short-time work arrangements and income compensation have been put in place in most Member States, making it possible to save millions of jobs.

However, the initiatives for financial support announced by the European Commission and the ECB at the beginning of the lockdown were poorly implemented and did not reach national economies and public budgets.

For these reasons, the ETUC urges Finance Ministers and EU leaders to swiftly approve and implement all the new extraordinary measures proposed by the President of the Eurogroup. ETUC proposes further important recommendations to be taken on board.

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