Protection of public interests by narrowing private interests: where is the limit?

Inha Kryvosheyina,Viktoriia Kachuriner,Volodymyr Makoda,Olga Klepikova,Vadym Popeliuk

doi:10.34069/ai/2021.38.02.14

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has posed many challenges to the international community. In a pandemic, governments make complex decisions every day (respond quickly to emerging difficulties), implement effective quarantine measures that affect the public and private interests of the people. Such decisions are also made by such supranational entities as the European Union. With this in mind, it is essential to analyze the interaction and balance of private and public interests in EU law in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. The work aims to analyze the balance between private and public interests in EU law in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Research methods are such methods as dialectical, historical, idealization, analysis, synthesis, abstraction, system, formalization, comparison, and modeling. As a result of the study, the authors concluded that the search for a balance between public and private interests is in all areas and mostly applies to human rights and, in a pandemic, these powers are enshrined in major international treaties and national regulations, with reservations about their possible limitation under exceptional circumstances. At the same time, ensuring the balance of private and public interests is possible only if the rule of law is fulfilled in the implementation of restrictive measures, proportionality, and public necessity.

Highlights

In the European Union, the search for effective legal mechanisms for the interaction of state and business continues
Before considering the public and private interest in European Union law in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, let us analyze the definitions of these concepts
The public interest consists of the interests of the state, its bodies, and officials, as well as the interests of society, while the private interest is always the interests of individuals; public interest is the interest of the social community recognized by the state and secured by law, the satisfaction of which is a condition and guarantee of its existence and development; everything that concerns the benefits and interests of the community are public, and everything that concerns the benefits and interests of each of its members is private

Summary

Introduction

In the European Union (hereinafter – EU), the search for effective legal mechanisms for the interaction of state and business (as well as the search for balance and harmonious combination of public and private interests in various spheres of society) continues. The public interest consists of the interests of the state, its bodies, and officials, as well as the interests of society, while the private interest is always the interests of individuals; public interest is the interest of the social community recognized by the state and secured by law, the satisfaction of which is a condition and guarantee of its existence and development; everything that concerns the benefits and interests of the community are public, and everything that concerns the benefits and interests of each of its members is private. The interests of society may not coincide with the interests of the individual, which in no way affects the implementation of both the first and the second if such implementation does not contradict the requirements of applicable law

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Conclusion