The coronavirus pandemic is a shock to the daily lives of most people in Europe. A health crisis morphed into a job crisis and then the deepest recession since the 1930s. As supply chains disintegrated, whole sectors collapsed. In Europe alone, 5.5 million jobs were lost by the summer of 2020 and the unemployment rate among the under-25s went up three times as fast as the overall EU unemployment rate and is now around 17%. Often the first to lose their jobs are those whose employment was already precarious – sales people, artists, cultural workers, kitchen staff, cleaners and many informal workers. Living in a world where most people depend on income from their labour to get by, the effects of the job crisis are catastrophic.

Therefore, the most pertinent question of the day is: how do we get out of this mess?

This report argues that there is an alternative to going back to “normal”, and one that will avoid the cliff edge towards which we are accelerating. The existing policy landscape is constrained by economic ideas and tools built for another time. During the launch event, we outline a new policy agenda for post-coronavirus Europe from the perspective of environmental and youth organisations.

Speakers will include Prof. Tim Jackson, Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), and other high-level speakers from the European Institutions, academia and civil society.

This event is organise in collaboration with European Youth Forum.

Agenda

10:00 – 10:05: Welcome by Patrizia Heidegger (Director Global Policies, EEB)

10:05 – 10:15: Keynote by Prof. Tim Jackson

10:15 – 10:30: Presentation of the report by Katy Wiese (EEB) and Jan Mayrhofer (YFJ)

10:30 – 11:05: Panel discussion

• Moderator: Tina Hočevar (Vice-President, YFJ)

• Panellists: Monika Kiss (Policy Analyst, EPRS), Ludovic Voet (Confederal Secretary, ETUC), Dr. Stan Van Alphen (Policy Officer, DG EMPLOY), Philippe Lamberts (MEP, Greens/EFA), Will Stronge (Co-Director, Autonomy)

11:05 – 11:25: Q&A session

11:25 – 11:30: Closing

You can register here!