Coronavirus: Europe gets ready to use all the available tools

Since its appearance in Hubei province in China earlier this year, the coronavirus has shaken the global economy. European countries are strongly affected, with more than 10,000 cases currently being recorded in Italy, 1,784 in France and 1, 457 in Germany. On Tuesday 10 March , 2 653 additional cases were confirmed in Europe, including 1 , 797 in Italy alone, the largest increase since the beginning of the crisis ( see Chart 1 ). Many companies are particularly affected, in tourism (hotels, restaurants), air flights and luxury products ( see our Special Report : "Coronavirus hits Europe" ). While European States have adopted emergency measures to help companies in their respective countries, the European institutions are moving towards a rebalancing of economic policy with assistance from the Commission and a relaxation of budgetary rules . In addition to the purely precautionary measures taken by the countries, this Special Report summarises the main measures to support countries’ companies and economies. We present an overview of the measures announced to battle the coronavirus crisis, a crisis that has visibly moved the lines of European economic policy , whose new mantra seems to be “using ALL the available tools”.