The Entrepreneurs Association of Slovakia has already submitted a document to the Minister of Economy which includes 40 bureaucratic absurdities that were previously identified by both entrepreneurs and the lay public under the patronage of the Bureaucratic Nonsense of the Year project.
I can already see the ironic grins, since I suggest creating new bureaucracy to fight bureaucracy. By applying this suggestion, however, no new administration would be created. The existing one would be reorganized so there would be a clearly assigned authority and responsibility to accomplish this important priority.
Over 90% of legislative burden in Slovakia comes from four ministries: the Ministry of Finances, the Ministry of Labor, thr Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Economy. The highest share, about 65% (EUR 1.7 billion) comes from the Ministry of Finances.
Slovak politicians create rules for entrepreneurship as if for people living on a different planet – and that is the way it has been for many years already. It is the politics of excessive interference in economics, which inherently and often unnecessarily limits enterprise freedoms.
From a total of 34 OECD countries, 29 of them have a minister for regulatory reform – Slovakia is not one of them. 33 OECD countries have a permanent institution for overseeing regulatory policy – Slovakia is not one of them.
The selection of administrative nonsenses listed every year gives a perfect overview of how many obstacles entrepreneurs must overcome if they want to run business in Slovakia. Feel free to nominate a nonsense that bothers you most – visit www.byrokratickynezmysel.sk and submit your suggestion until this Sunday.
Soon after the outbreak of Volkswagen scandal, it was found out that not only Volkswagen, but also many other, and potentially, all car producers which release diesel cars have the same problem. Their management, who cheated their way around the strict emission limits, eats humble pie at the press conferences.
In the most recent ranking of the World Economic forum, which compares the competitiveness of 140 countries around the world, Slovakia ranked 67th. Since we ranked 8 places higher the year before, the media presented this as positive news.
Arrival of Uber, which provides a cheaper alternative compared to traditional taxi services, has stirred up a debate in Slovakia. The participants are two camps divided by two completely different points of view regarding the question what Uber represents.
The story of Singapore does not match the usual idea of combining democracy and the market economy. While in the developed countries of the West, democracy has been threatening the functioning of the market economy, Singapore and its authoritarian regime has maintained the status of the easiest country to do business in.
