СOVID-19 INFLUENCE ON THE BALTIC-BLACK SEA REGION: CASES OF EU’S MEMBERS AND UKRAINE

The aim of the article is to reveal the difference in approaches and possibilities of the countries of the Baltic-Black Sea Region (samples of several EU members and Ukraine) towards the struggle with pandemic. Research based on both postcolonial studies and biopolitics and it is empirical. The methods include case studies, Internet-based research, archival research, interviews, comparative, statistical, graphical methods, and discourse analysis. The following aspects are researched: approaches of the countries to counteract the pandemic, their cooperation with international organisations, and cooperation with ‘donor’-countries, influence of COVID-19 on socio-economic and security spheres of BBSR countries. The authors give prognosis how selected countries of BBSR will overcome the pandemic and develop in the post-pandemic period. The fight against the pandemic continues, and its economic consequences will be felt during next years as well. The situation in Ukraine looks worse in the terms of economic recovery because Ukraine is hit by Russian aggression since 2014. The effectiveness of the individual response to the pandemic depends on the level of trust in society and the commitment of political leaders to learn, collaborate, consult and take principled decisions in times of uncertainty. This commitment to the common good determines the degree of public trust in leaders and institutions, which, in turn, affects citizens’ willingness to comply with the restrictions to their daily lives imposed by the lockdown measures. This explains the difference in the impact of the pandemic within the EU. Bulgaria differs in these parameters from the Baltic countries and closer to Ukraine.