The German Model For Management Of The Pandemic Crisis: Good Practice Lessons And Budget Implications Of The Adopted Measures

Since the very onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the German national government adopted a wide range of measures designed to protect the population health by drastically limiting social contact and partly discontinuing economic activity, in order to slow down the spreading of the virus and avoid a possible collapse of the healthcare system. This swift and decisive response of the federal authorities, embodied in a well-targeted strategy, was combined with the amplest economic rescue package in the country’s post-war history, which made Germany the world leader in terms of effectiveness of government measures adopted for combatting the effects of the crisis generated by the Covid-19 epidemic. In the context described, the present paper aims to review the measures adopted by Germany to combat the epidemic and limit the economic effects of the subsequent crisis, while also pointing out the budget impact of these measures and the need to abandon the traditional federal policy focused on maintaining a balanced budget.