Especially poorer European regions have been hit hard by the corona pandemic. This emerges from a report on the regional policy of the European Union, which the EU Commission presented on Wednesday in Brussels. The EU’s so-called cohesion policy aims to reduce disparities in development through payments to regions.
According to the report, that was Growth in less developed regions generally boosted by cohesion policy, especially in eastern regions such as Poland or the Baltic States. But the pandemic has partially undone progress. Between 2012 and 2019, around 17 million fewer people were at risk of poverty as a result of the cohesion policy. Because of Corona, however, five million were added again in 2020.
Poorer regions that depend on tourism in particular were badly affected. In southern Europe, for example in Italy, Spain or Greece, many regions have grown less. The pandemic has also exposed health inequalities. The average death rate in the EU rose an additional 13 percent during the pandemic, but by 17 percent in less developed regions, according to the report.
According to the information, the economy in Germany was particularly affected by Corona in Brandenburg, Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia, among others. Overall, according to the report, most German regions count as “developed”, i.e. their per capita economic growth is above the EU average. Some regions in the east are therefore considered “transition regions” because they were slightly below average.
Cohesion policy matters, as around a third of the EU budget is now spent on it – around €390 billion between 2014 and 2020, according to the European Court of Auditors.