Sixteen Flash Reports prepared by the European Social Policy Network (ESPN) are now available and offer key information on the ongoing crisis from a social policy perspective as well as brief assessments.

They cover twelve EU Member States (Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Sweden) and four non-EU countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia).

These short reports discuss various measures that these countries have implemented to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and its social and economic consequences, i.e. primarily to

• protect employment and mitigate loss of income,
• support businesses facing high risks of disruption,
• reduce the impact of the crisis on people and especially the most vulnerable groups,
• alleviate public health systems and
• slow down the spread of the pandemic.

The ESPN Flash Reports reflect the views only of the authors, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information they contain.