Support and Importance of Integration in Disruptive Times – Comparative Analysis of Serbia and Neighboring Countries during COVID-19 Pandemic

Nowadays, in a highly globalized world, the level of economic in­tegration has reached enormous proportions and there is almost no coun­try that is not a part of some economic agreement. The purpose of this pa­per is to determine if countries that are members of the European Union have been less affected by the COVID-19 crisis and if EU membership helped their economies recover faster compared to those which are not in the EU. In order to conduct such an analysis six countries of the region have been cho­sen, three of them as EU members and the remaining three as EU member­ship candidates. Economic activity and foreign trade of Serbia and selected surrounding countries will be analyzed through indicators such as gross do­mestic product, and import and export trends during the four years, from 2018 to 2022. Furthermore, the research will encompass implemented sup­port programs and measures for overcoming the consequences of the coro­navirus pandemic.