Restrictions on personal freedom, work or business loss, increasing financial tensions, limited communication with close people, friction between the people isolated within the household, uncertainty about the future, especially in the context of conflicting information coming from authorities, medical representatives and media reports, and other Covid-19 pandemic related factors are likely to substantially raise the spread of emotional distress and the risk of mental disorders and illnesses. In the context of such unprecedentedly high risks for society to develop mental disorders, it is purposeful to research the aspects of the provision of psychological support to the public in extreme conditions. Given the high number of stressors, an extremely high degree of uncertainty and a wide range of vulnerable social groups (entrepreneurs, pensions, family with children and etc.), the growing tensions in society necessitate the expansion of the scope of psychological support provided to the public. The main purpose of this research is to assess the situation concerning psychological support to the public in the extreme conditions at the national level.

Studies looking at the links between corruption and quality of life have begun to take place recently, as until now the quality of life has not traditionally been associated with political decisions. Corruption may be defined as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain, which in one way or another affects the quality of life and satisfaction of others. The aim is to bridge the gap between the nexus of corruption and the quality of life in the EU. EU countries were divided into groups of countries according to the year of accession and cover the years 2004-2017 period. The EU has been selected as a geographical region with the aim of uneven economic development of the countries and the lack of research in the region. The aim of the article is to determine the interdependencies between corruption and quality of life indicators in EU countries. Multivariate regression models revealed that the prevalence of corruption among individual groups of six countries had the highest impact on mortality rates, unambiguously showing how well countries are managing their health care systems, population density, birth rate and population aging, GDP per capita, economic situation, life expectancy, serving as an indicator of quality of life and the number of people with primary education. The results of empirical research allow to form insights that in order to reduce corruption it is necessary to focus on the following spheres reflecting the quality of life: education, health care system and general economic situation of the country. The article used the following methods: comparative and systematic literature analysis, multiple regression analysis.

Research background: Although some authors propose that economic growth should reduce crime rates as wider opportunities to earn money in a legal way diminish the incentives to commit illegal activities and lead to rising costs of the latter, the results of many studies indicate that an increase in crime rates is also possible under the conditions of economic growth. There are also differing views on the relationship between various economic indicators and crime rates as well as the nature of the relationship between the above-mentioned phenomena in the long and short run. Purpose of the article: After classifying the EU member states by their crime and economic indicators, the main objective of the article is to assess the relationship between the crime and economic development and identify the causes of this relationship. Methods: Systematic and comparative literature analysis, the Promethee and Entropy methods, Spearman?s correlation coefficient. Findings & value added: The Promethee method, together with the Entropy method, were used to estimate the weights of the EU member states with respect to their crime and economic development indicators. The most pronounced differences were recorded in Portugal, Spain, and the Slovak Republic. The rankings estimated for the EU member states revealed that although economic situation affects crime rate, it can also be affected by the differences in cultural and political development. Scientific novelty lies in complementing the theory of the shadow economy with the results showing that compared to other crimes, corruption has the greatest weight when examining the relationship between economic development and crime. The practical significance of the research lies in classifying the EU member states into 4 groups with consideration of the relationship between crime and economic development, which may help public authorities to devise the target measures for the effective fight against crime given the nature of the relationship between crime and economic development.

The phenomenon of cigarette smuggling and corruption has become a very sensitive topic for responsible law enforcement authorities and reporting entities. The issue needs to be addressed effectively and systematically regardless of the overall economic, financial and fiscal situation in the country. Preventing and mitigating the constant threat posed by criminal activities is of particular importance. In this context, financial institutions and non-financial professions are required to comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements. The article deals with the extent of corruption prevalence and reasons for prosperity in Albania, as a Western Balkans country, which has been little studied in the scientific literature. Albania is characterized by very high levels of perceived corruption, which manifests itself at all levels of government. Both petty and grand forms of corruption are prevalent in the country, while political corruption affects the quality of the democratic processes. The health sector, customs and tax officials are often referred to as the most corrupt institutions, followed by the police and the judiciary. Other problem faced by Albania is the illegal trade of tobacco considered as one of the major issues for Albanian law enforcement; it poses a multitude of challenges and issues beyond the ones discussed for legal tobacco consumption. The method of a representative quantitative survey was chosen for the empirical research, interviewing 1000 respondents from the age of 18 and more. The main findings and results of the research have been found: the scales of cigarette smuggling as well as the links between cigarette smuggling and corruption, money laundering and organized crime have not been evaluated, but macroeconomical analysis has shown that these phenomena are closely linked and feed each other. In Albania the public are beginning to realize that namely they tolerate the illegal phenomenon and, as a result, suffer from poorer economic well-being of their families.

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