O możliwości wprowadzenia stanu nadzwyczajnego w kontekście epidemii koronawirusa

The article deals with the current topic of the possibility of introducing a state of emergency in the context of the coronavirus pandemic and WHO-induced COVID-19 disease announced by the WHO. The authors point out that the introduction of the states of emergency would be an unprecedented event, reaching for the institution of the Polish Constitution from 1997, so far considered only in theory. Hence, the authors start their arguments with the general characteristics of the states of emergency regulated in Chapter XI of the Constitution. To this end, they present their types, circumstances of possible introduction and present the general logic governing emergency states. Later, they move on to possible variants of introducing one of these states while fighting the coronavirus epidemic, indicating that only the state of emergency and the state of natural disaster are applicable, with the indication that the latter is better suited to the logic of emergency states. At the same time, the authors strongly emphasize the principles that should be followed by a political decision-maker when deciding ultimately whether an emergency should be imposed or whether it can be avoided. These principles are first and foremost: the principle of necessity, the principle of temporality, the principle of proportionality.