Focus: GS-III Disaster Management
Why in news?
The European Union predicted 6th May “a recession of historic proportions this year” due to the impact of the coronavirus.
Details
- The 27-nation EU economy is predicted to contract by 7.5 per cent this year, before growing by about 6 per cent in 2021.
- With the spread slowing in most European countries, people are cautiously venturing out from confinement and gradually returning to work.
- However, strict health measures remain in place amid concern of a second wave of outbreaks and any return to something like normal life is at least months away.
- Much will depend, he said, on the speed at which lockdowns can be lifted, the importance of services like tourism in each economy and by each country’s financial resources.
European Union
Note: United Kingdom is not a part of the EU now.
- The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe.
- The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states in those (Only those) matters where members have agreed to act as one.
- A monetary union was established in 1999, coming into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency.
- In January 2020, the United Kingdom became the first member state ever to leave the EU.
-Source: The Hindu
