COVID-19 Coronavirus: EU Commission, economic impact analysis. Protective masks to Italy. “Virus knows no borders”

(Brussels) “The impact on tourism and air transport is already being felt. And this is only the beginning”, said Commission for Internal Market Thierry Breton, as he announced today, on behalf of the Commission, the launch of an EU-wide analysis of the effects of the outbreak of COVID-19 on European industry and businesses. COVID-19 is having a severe impact not just on Italy. “250,000 Chinese travellers did not travel between January and February, which represents a loss of two million overnight stays”. European carriers will also be affected by a decrease in the number of passengers. Commissioner Breton has asked Member States to “send aggregated data on the impact on supply chains”. The Commissioner and the ministers in charge of industry will meet again in a month’s time, at the next informal Competitiveness Council in Croatia, to “look at the results” of the analysis. “If needed, a formal Council could be then solely dedicated to this issue in the following weeks”. Meanwhile, the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism has been mobilised to dispatch large quantities of protective facemasks to Italy. Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič said: “Italy is part of our European family and we will do all we can to help. We are in permanent contact with the Italian civil protection authorities. As we have said since the beginning, this is a virus that knows no borders and all countries should show solidarity and coordinate the response”.

Gigliola Alfaro