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COVID-19 Series

Opinion pieces published in EuropeNow do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Council for European Studies.

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The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic for the European Non-governmental Sector

By Răzvan-Victor Sassu and Eliza Vaș

The new coronavirus has drastically reshuffled both economies and societies in the past months. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has described the situation as being a “crisis like no other” with “an uncertain recovery” and a “catastrophic hit” to the global labour market, with more than 430 million jobs losses in the first two quarters.

Europe’s Essential Workers

By Ruxandra Paul

Migrants have always been both essential to modern economies and objects of suspicion, but the Coronavirus pandemic has brought this tension to a head both in migrant-sending and migrant-receiving countries.

EuropeNow on COVID-19

In this series, we feature a spotlight on the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and its connections to European politics, society, and culture.

Giovanni Boccaccio’s “Decameron” and Life Beyond the Plague

By Alyssa Granacki

Reading these recent pieces, one might believe that the Decameron is mostly about the Black Death of 1348, but the plague takes up a relatively tiny fraction of the work. After the Introduction, Boccaccio’s brigata—the group of seven young women and three young men who narrate the Decameron’s tales—escapes ravaged Florence.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Student Mobilities

By Alexandru Pieptea

Although many EU countries have faced challenges brought on by the coronavirus, there are differences in the extent of required measures. Several countries have decided to take measures in terms of closing some or all educational institutions for varying time periods.

Solidarity and Its Limits

By Anke S. Biendarra

While mutual support might work reasonably well on an interpersonal level, the Coronavirus outbreak is rapidly revealing the limits of solidarity when it comes to nation states, confirming that it is not a genuine “European” value per se, but is borrowed from the national political vocabulary.

A New Existentialism for Infectious Times

By Jennifer McWeeny

Much like Beauvoir and her famous entourage, we, too, are contending with an unexpected and catastrophic visitor. The coronavirus pandemic therefore allows us to enter the historical experience of these French thinkers more deeply than we have before.