Video conference of employment and social affairs ministers, 5 May 2020

Main results

The magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented and has wide-ranging implications on the whole society and especially in the field of employment and social affairs.

EU ministers responsible for employment and social affairs met via video conference to discuss:

• the demographic challenges in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond
• the national measures taken or foreseen to mitigate the negative consequences of the crisis on the labour markets and the economy

The outcome of the debate feeds into the finalisation by the European Commission's report on the impact of demographic change, also in light of the current pandemic.

Furthermore, they exchanged views on exit and recovery measures taken and foreseen at national and EU level.

This is the second video conference in the employment and social area, following the one held on 19 March 2020.

After the end of the meeting, the Croatian presidency published a summary of the outcomes:

• Outcomes of the video conference of employment and social affairs ministers (Croatian presidency website, 5 May 2020)
• COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak and the EU's response (background information)