Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on EU Convergence

Abstract

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were global and led to an economic decline in most countries of the EU. The development and values of economic indicators varied from country to country and showed significant regional differences. The study evaluates the coverage of selected economic indicators in the Member States of the EU in the period 2010–2020. The analytical part is based on empirical statistical data. As a methodological procedure for testing the convergence of the EU, we compared the results of the coefficient of variation of GDP per capita in PPP and the unemployment rate. The findings of this study confirm the predicted development trends. The pandemic has reversed major convergence trends. Divergence within the EU was affected by a lower decline in GDP in the developed countries of the EU. The tendencies of social disparities in the unemployment rate were different from the development of the coefficient of variation of GDP per capita. The first year of the pandemic marked a decline in disparities between the countries of the EU. For future research, we recommend monitoring the development of convergence in the next pandemic period.