POLITICAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL APPROACH TOWARD COVID 19: THE CASES OF KOSOVO AND CROATIA

Abstract

State reactions toward the COVID-19 pandemic differ from one country to another one across the world. Many countries have declared a state of emergency, where the power is mainly being concentrated on executive branches, while other countries have supplemented their existing legal frameworks, saving the balance of the power branches. This group of countries includes Kosovo and Croatia, two new democracies with similar constitutional systems, regarding the position and role of the president and provisions related to the declaration of emergency and restrictions of human rights and freedoms. Therefore, the similarity will also reflect on both the countries’ reactions to the pandemic. It is evident that the presidential and opposition tendencies from both countries were able, to a certain level, to impose extraordinary measures within an ordinary legal order. Thus, there was no need to apply constitutional provisions concerning the state of emergency. This paper aims to tackle such political, professional, and academic approaches of both countries; in particular, it focuses on the approaches of governments, presidents, constitutional courts, and constitutionalists.