This Working Paper investigates developments in social dialogue and collective bargaining during the firsttwo years of the COVID-19 pandemic in a selection of European countries. The paper provides an overviewof government and social partner responses. In describing responses, the main goal of this paper is toidentify the dimensions that can help explain the variety of responses, but also their commonalities. Thepaper also aims at understanding the factors that may have promoted the activation of social dialogueover economic and social policies and broaden the role of collective bargaining and industrial relations, asopposed to unilateral interventions designed by national governments. The paper lays out an analyticalframework based on the COVID impact in each country, national industrial relations institutions and thenature of the government in office. In this general framework, we observe how national industrial relationsinstitutions play a key role in explaining the responses in terms of the level and quality of social dialogueand the role of collective bargaining. Particularly important has been the role of strong sectoral collectivebargaining institutions, allowing sectoral actors to negotiate specific responses considering the impact andthe needs of the sector.