CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE’S RESPONSES TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC CEE INSTITUTE: CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE’S RESPONSES TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC THE CORONAVIRUS CEE INSTITUTE: CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE’S RESPONSES TO - CHINA Chief Editor: Chen Xin ISBN 978-615-6124-19-7 Central and Eastern Europe’s Responses to the Coronavirus Pandemic Chief Editor Chen Xin CHINA-CEE INSTITUTE Budapest, May 2020 Contents Preface ......................................................................................................... i Part I Political Perspective ......................................................................... 1 Governance and COVID-19 in Albania .......................................................... 2 BiH Dealing with Coronavirus Epidemic Outbreak ........................................ 7 Emergency Legislation and Political Clashes in Bulgaria in the Context of Coronavirus Pandemic .................................................................................. 12 The Approach of Croatian Government to the COVID-19: institutions, measures and implications ............................................................................ 18 State of Emergency and Nationwide Quarantine: The Czech Answer to the Coronavirus Crisis ........................................................................................ 25 Estonia in the crisis: taking changes and considering advantages ................. 30 Political gains for the governing party in Greece .......................................... 36 Hungarian politics in the whirl of the coronavirus ........................................ 41 Latvian political solutions to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 .................. 46 The Parliament of Latvia conceptually supports amendments to the law on therepayment law on repaymentof mortgage of debts mortgage during debts the 2008during crisis the 2008……….….. crisis ................... 50 Lithuania’s irregular parliamentary work under quarantine and democracy . 52 N. Macedonia’s authority and its limits under the spotlight of COVID 19 ... 57 Corona and political scene of Montenegro ................................................... 63 Romania’s new government facing the coronavirus crisis ............................ 73 Decisive set of political and economic measures over the Covid19 and Serbia’s internal politics ............................................................................... 78 The COVID-19 and domestic politics in Slovakia ........................................ 83 Slovenian New government’s response to Covid-19 crisis ........................... 89 Part II Economic Perspective ................................................................... 94 Albania’s Crippling economy and grim forecasts ......................................... 95 5 BiH Saving its economy amidst the coronavirus epidemic ......................... 101 The effect of COVID-19 pandemic on Bulgarian economy and government measures to manage the situation ................................................................ 106 Consequences of novel coronavirus on Croatian economy: tourism and agriculture ................................................................................................... 112 The Coronavirus crisis’s economic impact and the Czech Republic’s countermeasures .......................................................................................... 117 Can Greek economy survive? ..................................................................... 127 Economic stimulus program in Hungary .................................................... 132 Latvia Strategy to overcome the economic crisis of COVID-19 ................. 138 Corona crisis and Lithuania’s idea of setting up a state-owned bank ......... 144 The Macedonian economy braces for the biggest challenge since independence .............................................................................................. 149 COVID-19 and Montenegrin economic recession ...................................... 154 Poland and the “Anti-crisis Shield” ............................................................ 159 The impact of coronavirus crisis on Romanian economy ........................... 164 Serbia’s positive economic prospects shattered by the covid-19 crisis ....... 170 Coronavirus and economic outlook of Slovakia ......................................... 176 Mitigating COVID-19 Effects on Slovenian Economy .............................. 182 Part III Social Perspective ...................................................................... 188 COVID-19 Unveils Serious Shortcomings in Albanian Society ................. 189 General impact of the coronavirus outbreak on BiH society ...................... 194 Increasing unemployment as the biggest social problem for Bulgaria as a result of the pandemic ................................................................................. 200 Croatian education system's response to COVID-19 and introduction of online classes .............................................................................................. 206 Estonia: understanding and waiting patiently… Until when? ..................... 211 Technology during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Greece ............................ 217 6 Hungarian public perception of the Covid-19 virus’ impact on our life ..... 222 The coronavirus pandemic challenging Latvian education system: distance learning implementation experience ........................................................... 227 The Coronavirus stirring up negative emotions in Lithuania ...................... 232 N. Macedonia ambling in (spite of) times of coronavirus: the social cost of profit ........................................................................................................... 237 The social effects of the corona virus in Montenegro ................................. 242 Remote education in the time of pandemics: a challenge and an opportunity for Poland .................................................................................................... 247 Driving COVID restrictions and pressure during Easter celebration in Romania ...................................................................................................... 252 Serbian society’s response to COVID-19 pandemic ................................... 257 The coronavirus crisis and the end of the social life in Slovakia? .............. 264 Purchases of medical equipment, related corruption suspicions and the public response in Slovenia ................................................................................... 269 Part IV Perspective of External Relations ............................................. 274 Albania’s Foreign Relations (in Isolation) .................................................. 275 Coronavirus epidemic in BiH: closing of the borders, repatriation, and the international aid .......................................................................................... 281 International solidarity in a global pandemic: a key issue for Bulgaria ...... 286 The effect of COVID-19 pandemic on foreign relations of Croatia ............ 292 Estonia reflecting on the COVID-19 and getting ready for the UN SC rotating presidency ................................................................................................... 300 Greece and China during the COVID-19 pandemic ................................... 305 The international framing of the Hungarian state of emergency Bill .......... 310 Latvia’s foreign policy priorities in April 2020 aimed at overcoming the COVID-19 crisis ......................................................................................... 315 The coronavirus crisis provides new opportunities for Lithuania’s foreign policy .......................................................................................................... 321 7 The role of EU support in N. Macedonia’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic ..................................................................................................... 326 Montenegro’s cooperation with the international community during corona period .......................................................................................................... 331 Poland’s foreign policy and its fight against coronavirus ........................... 336 External help for Romania in times of coronavirus .................................... 341 The pandemic confirms steel friendship between Serbia and China ........... 346 Slovakia’s diplomacy and the COVID-19 pandemic .................................. 350 Slovenia joining forces with the EU foreign ministers on a coordinated international response to the COVID-19 pandemic .................................... 355 8 Preface COVID-19 pandemic is the most serious global public health emergency since the end of World War II. The virus respects no borders or races. When the virus started to spread in Central and Eastern Europe, different kinds of measures had been taken to combat the virus. It occurred serious impact on the political, economic and social structure, as well as individual lives. This book is providing a brief analysis on the situation of combating pandemic in Central and Eastern Europe. The structure of the book is divided into four aspects: domestic politics, economic situation, social development and external relations. The book is based on a collection of reports by the associate researchers of the China-CEE Institute. The reports are originally from the April issue of