The European Commission's Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) and its consumer confidence component have fallen to levels last seen during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and are approaching the lows recorded during the 2009–2010 global financial crisis, the Employers' Confederation Concordia said in an analysis quoted by Economica.net . The decline has not been sudden but gradual over the past twelve months, reaching critical levels by the end of June 2026. In June 2026, two of the five sectors monitored, services and retail, as well as the overall ESI, recorded their sharpest monthly declines of the past year.