Piotr Arak, “Summitto”: Poland is one of the most innovative countries in the EU when it comes to closing the VAT gap.

Education, the labour market and mental health are three areas where the young generation will be hit the hardest by COVID-19. Short-term costs on a global scale are USD 1.7 trillion. Those include costs relating to mental health (USD 407 billion) and youth unemployment (USD 1.3 trillion). The long-term impact of the pandemic on education and the labour market will involve much higher costs – an estimated amount of USD 44 trillion. As regards education, the anticipated loss of earnings of 6.2 per cent will last the whole working life of the young generation, i.e. approx. 45 years. Long-term effects on the labour market will include young workers’ earning 4 per cent less than in ‘normal’ times for 15 years. Those are the findings from the report entitled ‘Corona generation. Growing up in a pandemic’ prepared by the Polish Economic Institute.

Krzysztof Marczewski, Jakub Rybacki, Jakub Sawulski, “EU Observer”: Ireland is the only EU member state which avoided recession in 2020. A miracle? No – Ireland is European Union’s tax haven.

The Visegrad Group was established on 15 February 1991. In 1991–2019, its GDP rose by 155 per cent. Between 1995 and 2019, the value of exports of goods went up more than 19 times, that of imports – 16 times, whereas fixed capital formation rose 3 times faster than in the EU-15. Simultaneously, in 2019, GDP per capita represented nearly 72 per cent of the EU-15’s level. At present, the region is Europe’s sixth economic power and third consumer market – according to the Polish Economic Institute’s report entitled ‘The Visegrad Group – 30 years of transition, integration and development’.

Piotr Arak, “The Brussels Times”: Whereas COVID19 occupies our minds today, it does not make other national security threats less important in the long run. Besides climate change, a vital threat to the American way of life is the rising power of China.

Three-fourths of experts are critical of Poland’s infrastructure potential and resources for extending its stock. The solution should be to rapidly implement a hydrogen strategy to regulate the functioning of stakeholders and to introduce facilitating legal and market-based mechanisms. Those are the conclusions to be drawn from the PEI report entitled Gospodarka wodorowa w Polsce. Obserwacje na podstawie ram badawczych Technologicznego Systemu Innowacji (only available in Polish; the English version of the title: ‘The hydrogen economy in Poland. Observations based on the research framework of the Technological Innovation System’).

Green trade is a sector worth hundreds of billions of euros that is set to become a pillar of the global economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Poland currently ranks near the bottom of global listings of the “greenest” countries, it is one of the largest exporters of environmentally friendly goods in Europe and worldwide. The sector—worth up to USD 1.5 trillion—faces challenges, including China’s control over exports of rare earth metals. These issues are discussed in the latest Polish Economic Institute report “Poland on the map of ‘green’ trade.”

For the next three decades, the European Union is likely to be internally divided as never before, relying on a zombie economy and struggling with growing conflicts between generations and social classes. Moreover, it will be increasingly difficult to keep up with the USA and Asian countries in the global technological race, whereas the costs of achieving climate neutrality will soar. Those are the challenges to be faced by the next generations after the European Union overcomes the corona crisis, as pointed out by the Polish Economic Institute in its report entitled ‘Europe 2050. Seven main risks in the post-COVID era’.

Piotr Arak, “The Brussels Times”: A question I ask myself more and more is would I like to live in the future or the past? Typically as an economist I would like to see the future but more often I would choose the past which I know more of.

Piotr Arak, “Emerging Europe”: The coronavirus pandemic has brought a new era of assertive and expansive government. Countries have increased their deficit and debt levels, which pose threats to medium and long-term development.