From the Centre for European Reform, this is the CEO podcast.

It is a critical moment. If we do not act with urgency, we would then severely undermine the liberal order.

Brexit means Brexit, and we're going to make a success of it.

The wind is back in Europe's sales. We have now a window of opportunity, but it will not stay open forever.

Hello and welcome to the Centre for European Reform podcast.

My name is John Springford. I'm Deputy Director here.

We're interrupting our regular schedule of fortnightly podcasts because of the coronavirus, COVID-19 situation, which is blowing up in Europe.

And we thought that we'd offer you a quick

rundown on what's happening and also some of the economic policy responses that European

countries should enact. First thing to say is, sorry for the mail podcast. We scraped this together

in a slightly emergency situation, but we've got two excellent thinkers for you to listen to today.

We've got Luigi Scatzieri, who is a foreign policy specialist, really, but he also tracks Italy

quite closely as that is his homeland. Welcome Luigi.

Thank you, John.

And we also have Christian Odendale, our chief economist, who is on the line from Berlin.

Let's turn to the situation in Italy first.

Back on February 3rd, Italy had three cases.

And five weeks later, it's up to over 10,000, including over 600 deaths.

And the health system has struggled to cope, especially in the most effective regions.

And yesterday, the government announced a lockdown across the whole of the country

in order to try to contain the spread.

So Luigi, could you describe the lockdown measures what they are and how they are intended to work?

...