The current circumstances of the COVID-19 disease pandemic have shown in a realistic light the functioning of the legal and health system of each country. De facto extraordinary circumstances encouraged many states to activate the state of emergency system, which foresees mechanisms for coping with the crisis. The state of emergency is an institute that went through a difficult path until it became accepted in the constitutions of modern states. It is about the establishment of a regime that temporarily suspends the current democratic order. This suspension includes the disruption of the competence of the executive and the legislature in favor of the executive and the restriction or complete abolition of certain fundamental human rights and freedoms. The main task of the state is to protect the life and health of citizens and enable the functioning of its institutions. For this reason, it is necessary to oppose exceptional circumstances with equal strength, and reasons of efficiency dictate that this can only be achieved by a temporary concentration of power in the hands of one body. However, acting within the framework of a state of emergency does not mean the possibility of arbitrariness, for the prevention of which it is necessary to carefully regulate the relationship between legislative and executive bodies. In addition, the work of the executive is subject to judicial supervision. The duration of the state of emergency regime should be temporary, and its sole purpose is to restore the constitutional order. This paper analyses constitutional framework and procedures of two neighboring European countries during the pandemic. Unlike other European countries, Italy lacks provisions on the state of emergency in the Constitution and is guided exclusively by the legislative framework in this regard. On the other hand, Croatia, in the constitutional text, foresees cooperation mechanisms between the executive and the legislature, but in the fight against the pandemic, it decided to remain within the framework of the regular situation. The Italian government met the pandemic unprepared and, despite the first recorded cases, adopted measures late and elemental. Both countries significantly limited certain fundamental human rights and freedoms, and Italy was somewhat more radical in this respect.