COVID-19 PANDEMICS IMPACT ON UKRAINIAN STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF THE EU, EUROPEAN INTEGRATION AND SOLIDARITY

Abstract

The youth opinion and perceptions of the EU and EU-Ukraine relations and aspiration of Ukraine towards the EU membership have always been under the particular interest of scholars, policy-makers and civil society. Through years of Ukraine’s independence youth has been defined as a key target audience for the public policy, hence it is critically important to understand their opinions and attitudes, positions, and perceptions. As unprecedented a challenge as COVID-19 pandemics turned out to be for European solidarity and values could not but affect the attitudes to the EU and European integration in Ukraine. The purpose of this study is to identify any possible transformations the concept of EU and European solidarity occurred in the minds of Ukraine’s undoubtedly most pro-European social group (student youth aged 18–25). The survey was held by Ukrainian Association of Professors and Researchers of European Integration through March–May 2020, under the turbulent first months of pandemics at the very height of quarantine limitations in both the EU and Ukraine. By means of content analysis, concept analysis and categorization of unique empirical data collected within the frames of the all-Ukrainian student essay contest focused on COVID-19 impact upon European integration and solidarity, this study traces shifts in Ukrainian students’ attitudes to the EU and Ukraine’s European integration process and, where possible, identifies the types of media discourse and sources influencing the target group’s opinions.