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PURPOSE: NATO has been built upon political, economic, and military issues. Over the years, due to the intensive development of medicine, public debate has marginalised public health threats as aspect of international security. Our goal was to find out whether the transatlantic security community will rise to the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. ; DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: This article attempts to answer the above question through theoretical analysis of the functioning of NATO as a security community as well as through the analysis of actions taken by the Alliance to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. ; FINDINGS: The hypothesis we were able to confirm is, that the current pandemic is a chance for the Alliance – it can play a greater role in the community than it has done so far. ; PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Our research shows gaps in NATO's crisis management system and the areas that need to be improved. ; ORIGINALITY/VALUE: We see our paper as an innovative one, because no one has researched NATO's crisis management mechanisms on the example of a specific, non-military crisis. ; peer-reviewed

Each enlargement of the European Communities (EC) and later the European Union (EU) has had an indisputable in! uence on inner cohesion of the organization itself. The participants of the integration processes have included the countries deviating from the previous Member States by the level of the economic development, the structures of their economies, macroeconomic conditions, etc. This differentiation has taken its toll especially on the functioning and the expenses of common policies (mainly transfer ones) as well as the execution of the integration reinforcement plans such as the European Economic and Monetary Union. In this aspect the most serious consequences were caused by the admission of countries that were much weaker economically, especially Ireland, Greece, Spain and Portugal. These countries had to go through a long way of reforms in order to become rightful members of the organization and for their integration with the Communities to become a mutual success. A big part of the expenses connected with these reforms was financed by the common budget thanks to the structural funds and the Common Agricultural Policy.

The authors examine the threats from hazardous toxic materials from World War II wrecks sunk in the Baltic Sea and their cargo of chemical ammunition, indicate Poland's reaction to this situation, and map out Polish obligations in this regard. This problem gives rise to multiple uncertainties about the exact nature of threats to environmental/ecological security, marine security, human security (including health security), economic security and food safety. The authors also elaborate on legal regulations relevant in this context. The research methods include formal-institutional analysis of relevant legal documents and discourse analysis. The main conclusions are: 1. toxic materials in the Baltic Sea threaten ecological, economic, human and security; 2. food safety in all Baltic states might be endangered; Poland should accede to the Nairobi Wreck Removal Convention; and Poland should cooperate regionally to resolve the problem of the Baltic chemical waste.

The European Economic Community/European Union was born as an economy-oriented organization, which was to facilitate rebuilding of the Old Continent after WWII through extensive cooperation, particularly in trade. However, the appetites of the state leaders were growing along the progress of the integration processes; the economic success was an argument for further integration of the European countries. Due to this, the organization was given the ability to make decisions and influence decision-makers at the national level in subsequent spheres that earlier were the sole prerogative of states. Still, for many years EU members determinedly guarded their competences regarding broadly understood security, predominantly defence. Successive attempts to accelerate integration in this area were not effective enough to develop a real common defence policy. One of the last initiatives, Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), is supposed to help change this situation. It is therefore necessary to pose several questions: What is PESCO? What is EU members' attitude towards developing this form of cooperation? What does this cooperation look like at the early implementation stages? What factors determine the involvement of the 'old' and 'new' EU member states? This article is an attempt to answer these questions.