Jan Oravec

Fairytales are an inseparable part of not only child\'s world, but even many grown-ups believe in fairytales. There is an interesting category in this genre, the so-called European fairytales, in which grown-ups in Brussels believe. One of the newest is that about the real Economic and Monetary union. It goes like this.

From time to time, our media report that Slovakia has once again fallen in another competitiveness ranking. The papers write about it for a day or two, the TV stations show a few reports, opposition barks a bit, the government refuses the criticism and challenges the results. However, the topic usually does not live to see its third day in the media.

Entrepreneurs in Slovakia have not the very best reputation. In media they usually appear in connection with negative matters, so that the publicity wrongly divides them just into two categories: those who stole money during the privatization and those who are stealing today by public procurement.

Continual restriction of economic and civil liberties may have fatal consequences. Even though we can freely choose to live in an unfree society, we have to be aware of the price we will eventually pay for it.

Everyone would be better off if the European Commission started innovating its own policy and went by the principle „Less harmonisation, more competition“

To beat bureaucracy, you have to make your problem theirs, similarly to one of the Murphy’s laws, which we can use to hopefully manage to save our forests.

The Index of Economic Freedom by Heritage Foundation, the Index of Economic Freedom by Fraser Institute, World Bank\'s Doing Business, World Economic Forum\'s ranking, IMD’s competitiveness ranking - all these rankings are telling us the same thing: better times in Slovakia are long gone.

Europe is standing at an essential crossroads. The key challenge here is stopping the decline of international competitiveness.

New laws in Slovakia are passed like hotcakes and changed more frequently than socks, which creates a chaotic and unpredictable framework for citizens and entrepreneurs.

Certainly, there is no need to agree with everything Connolly says. However, when thinking about what awaits us in the Euro area in the coming months and years, I listen to his opinion with much more respect than to the opinions of the prophets of unfounded optimism.