COMMON AND SPECIFIC IN APPROACHES TO ENSURING SOCIETAL SECURITY AS CRISIS MANAGEMENT IN THE EU AND THE CZECH REPUBLIC DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The COVID-19 pandemic was a challenge for the EU as an integration association and for all its member states. To counteract the cross-border crisis triggered by the coronavirus, policies within the association and the interaction of member states had to be clearly coordinated. In reality, however, the approaches taken by member states to deal with the pandemic differed at almost every stage of it. An example of that was the Czech Republic and its unique approach to a significant number of aspects of crisis management. Using the concept of societal security as a theoretical basis, the article analyzes the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic to the EU, revealing the specifics of the Czech Republic's approach to crisis management (in comparison with the general European approach), and analyzing the public perception of the COVID-19 pandemic and the related crisis management policies at the EU and Czech Republic levels. It is concluded that the peculiarities of the approach to social security in the Czech Republic are primarily due to the peculiarities of the perception of the coronavirus as a threat, as well as to the anti-crisis policies implemented at the Czech and EU levels.