THE ROLE OF THE EU “SOFT” LAW IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC (INITIAL STAGE – MARCH – AUGUST 2020)

Abstract

Abstract. The article analyzes the theory, direct practice and peculiarities of application of the so-called soft law of the EU in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The European Union law, in parallel and in cooperation with national initiatives of the Member States, played an important, if not decisive, role in combating the spread of the pandemic at its initial stage. In addition to “normal” legislative measures (or, in some legal systems, administrative rulemaking in the form of governmental or ministerial decrees), much of the regulation of the fight against COVID-19 has been made through circulars, instructions, guidelines, and other soft law instruments adopted at the Community level. Soft law instruments usually do not have full legal force, but can have legal and practical consequences: they can become a legal basis for the development of national legislation of EU Member States (in the field of combating the pandemic), provide a regulatory framework for smoothing out contradictions between national and European legislation in overcoming the pandemic as a global challenge to humanity, specify responsibilities of institutional cooperation, etc. The shifting normativity characterizing soft law in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged and operated in a complex and highly flexible system of international, supranational, domestic and subnational actors, both public and private. The study of the role of soft law in countering the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe has influenced the choice of strategies based on soft law instruments in the fight against the pandemic at the international level (UN, WHO), where soft law has become the only tool, given the lack of competence and/or mandatory powers in such matters. The analysis of the effect of soft legislation in the relevant period leads to the conclusion that this toolkit helped to cope with the crisis caused by the spread of COVID-19 at its initial, most acute stage (at the EU level) with the least losses.