Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the differentiation of selected macroeconomic variables characterizing the EU economies over a short period

The 2020+ pandemic was not only the most serious global health crisis since the Spanish flu of 1918 but also one of the most economically expensive pandemics on a global scale. The scale and dynamics of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by a coronavirus entailed serious disturbances in social and economic life. Chapter 2 aims to analyze and assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the differentiation of selected macroeconomic aggregates in the European Union economies. The study examined 27 European countries that were members of the European Union at the time of the announcement of the pandemic by the World Health Organization. The following macro-indicators were analyzed and assessed: gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, the unemployment rate, gross fixed capital formation (investments) per capita, exports and imports per capita. The research project included both a long (2006-2020) and a short (Q2 of 2020 vs. Q2 of 2019) period. The depth of decreases in macroeconomic aggregates, including GDP (and consequently GDP per capita) in the second quarter of 2020 was unprecedented in the post-war history of the member states of the former European Communities and the current European Union. The sharpest decrease was observed in the countries that in 2006-2019 belonged to the group of economies with high and highest values of GDP per capita