European Pillar of Social Rights. The social consequences of the pandemic: a baptism of fire for the European Pillar of Social Rights Björn Hacker This year’s pandemic will hopefully be a one-off experience. However, the economic and social wounds that it inflicts reveal the vulnerability of the European Union and past political failings. There is no“going back to normal”. This crisis should be used as an opportu­nity for closer cooperation in the EU and a readjustment of the European social and economic model. This need not involve starting from scratch: Some instruments at European level have not yet been used enough or have been afforded a lower priority than other goals. This in­cludes the European Pillar of Social Rights(EPSR), pro­claimed in 2017. This article aims to shed light on the development, the background, and the problems of the EPSR, and to evaluate its potential effect in the context of the ex­treme social crisis now facing Europe as a result of the pandemic. The impending COVID-19 social crisis The projections made by the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Monetary Fund(IMF) in summer 2020 are broadly similar: The global economic collapse triggered by the crisis and the shutdown is un­precedented in its simultaneous impact, and it is esti­mated that it will cause the largest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Firstly, negative growth is predicted for 2020 around the world, including Europe. In July 2020, the Commission expects the real Gross Domestic Product(GDP) of the EU to shrink by 8.3% over the year(Eurozone:-8.7%). There were even bleaker pre­dictions for the Economic and Monetary Union(EMU) for the current year, made in June by the OECD(-9.1%) and the IMF(-10.2%). There should then be catch-up effects in 2021, and growth will again rise sharply, but it will still 33