Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the accounts of Europe’s regions and local authorities are under strain and a hole of approximately €180 billion would have emerged by 2020, more precisely €130 billion for the regional and intermediate levels and €50 billion for the municipal level, according to the second edition of the Regions and Cities Barometer, published by the European Committee of the Regions on Tuesday 12 October.
This situation is explained by the ‘scissors effect’, i.e. the combination of two phenomena: increased expenditure and reduced revenue. In 2020, the EU’s GDP fell by 6% compared to 2019, but this situation conceals strong regional disparities due to the starting points, but also to the health responses provided.
Thus, the most affected regions are mainly in the south of Europe, the Greek (about -9%), Spanish (about -10%), and Croatian (about -9%) regions. In contrast, the regions of Luxembourg (around +1%) and Ireland (around +3%) experienced GDP growth over the same period.
To access the report: https://bit.ly/2YH2lba (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)