The European Union and its Peripheries: Solidarity in Times of Covid-19

The issues of solidarity and social justice remain of crucial importance for the political and social architecture of the European Union on the eve of the third year of the Covid-19 pandemic. Deep socio-economic inequalities became more visible in these years both within the EU member states, and beyond the borders of the Union, in its Eastern and South Eastern peripheries. The EU institutions enacted from the very beginning several - more or less successful - solidarity mechanisms regarding the management of the crisis and (re)distribution of the resources among the member states. At the same time, the European countries involved in the process of accession as candidate or potential candidate countries received far less financial and medical support in dealing with the health, social and economic impacts of the pandemic. The paper examines major socio-political effects of this crisis, considering particularly the case of Western Balkan countries, and the way it had affected the current state of the European integration and enlargement process. The empirical inquiry focused on the EU support to these countries, their citizens, and people on the move within their borders, in the context of the pandemic. The following methodologies were used: a. analysis of the documents, statements and official speeches of the representatives of the European Union and in particular of the European Commission regarding Covid-19 assistance in the acceding countries and official statements by the political elites of the WB countries, treated by the instruments of CDS methodologies; b. analysis of secondary statistical data regarding Covid-19 in the context of the Western Balkan countries; c. institutional analysis of the accession process of the WB countries to the EU.