EU Reporter (29.03.2021) The European Commission has published the March 2021 edition of the Employment and Social Developments in Europe (ESDE) Quarterly Review, with a thematic focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the self-employed. The review shows that this group has experienced a strong reduction of their working time and more severe income losses than employees in most member states. National social protection systems typically provide lower coverage and compensation for the self-employed.

etui (March 2021) The purpose of the present study is to map key social protection measures taken during the pandemic from the perspective of fragmentation of labour market statuses, notably by focusing on non-standard workers and the self-employed as well as taking into account the gender dimension of these social protection measures. The analysis focuses on the 27 EU Member States, covering the period of the first wave of the pandemic: from the beginning of the lockdown measures (for most countries at the beginning of March 2020) until 31 December 2020.

EURACTIV.com (04.03.2020) An EU reinsurance scheme to support national unemployment benefits was not part of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan presented on Thursday (4 March), although the European Commission has been supportive of the idea.

europa.eu (28.02.2021) The European Commission has presented a green paper to launch a broad policy debate on the challenges and opportunities of Europe's ageing society. It sets out the impact of this pronounced demographic trend across our economy and society and invites the public to express their views on how to respond to this in a public consultation, which will run for 12 weeks.

October 2020 (caf.fr)

In October 2020, the Cnaf released 5 million euros for the purchase of 500,000 inclusive masks (transparent) for early childhood professionals working in a childcare centre or "childcare assistants' centres".

08.12.2020 (education.gouv.fr)

Since the circulation of the Covid19 and the health crisis, the Caisse nationale des allocations familiales (Cnaf) has put in place measures to support particularly disadvantaged families, as well as various managers of services useful to families. The back-to-school allowance (Allocation de rentrée scolaire) paid to families with the lowest incomes and school-age children has been exceptionally increased by €100 per child as part of the Government's Recovery Plan.

Government of the Republic of Croatia (19.11.2020) Cross-border data exchange between the Croatian Stop COVID-19 application and official applications of other EU member states has been established. This makes Croatia the seventh EU country in a row, along with Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia and Spain, which exchanges "infected keys" through the federation gateway (European Federation Gateway Service) and thus enables anonymous notification of foreign contacts about the risk of infection. 

europa.eu (15.11.2020) The German presidency of the Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional deal on the EU4Health programme for 2021-2027. With a budget of EUR 5.1 billion, the new reinforced programme provides a strong basis for Union action in the health field based on lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. It comes at a time when EU citizens still experience the impact of a major health threat and the resulting human suffering and severe socio-economic consequences.

The EU is making additional financial resources available to the member states to strengthen cohesion and boost the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.