COVID-19 may hit less resilient EU eastern areas more

Significance

At least in the EU’s eleven eastern member states (EU-11), there has been significant if slow progress in lifting standards of living across the board in the past decade. However, progress is uneven and the impact of the economic slowdown due to lockdowns in the past year may well have affected disproportionately already poorer regions.

Impacts

• Some governments, notably Hungary’s, will put political loyalty above need in directing recovery funds to the localities.
• People in ‘left-behind’ regions may seek a better life in relatively prosperous capital cities or abroad.
• There is scope for countries and regions to learn from each other given clear cases of significant development in the past decade.