The Chinese Communist Party was given the opportunity to show how the common future should look like. The Chinese propaganda machine claims that China has demonstrated its ability to respond to the health crisis and that European countries could also benefit from China’s experience.
Slovakia is not Wuhan. Slovakia is not even Bratislava alone. The optimal solution for the capital is different from the one for Pribylina (a small village in Slovakia). Closing a country like ours, where half of the population lives in the countryside, is a comfortable waiver of responsibility by those in charge.
To stop the coronavirus, most countries ceased almost all economic and social activities. As a first response to prevent an exponential growth of cases, this was probably justified. However, we will not be able to bear the costs of such a complete shutdown for a very long time.
The ongoing epidemic requires an adequate response. In terms of the upcoming weeks, Slovakia should proceed in an organized and responsible manner.
Crises, particularly so severe as the one we are currently facing, have the inevitable habit of redefining the way our economic life works. The way people work, as well as the very labor market itself, will undergo significant changes.
The restructuring of the state in a latently authoritarian direction is being pushed even further. The government’s worrying trend is particularly evident in the way it is trying to instrumentalize the COVID-19 crisis for the upcoming presidential elections on May 10.
Do you know how to do it? You know, a corpulent guy, that politician or whomever, demonstrated it on TV. Just turn the tap on. No, don’t worry, they promised us they are reducing the water price. They even took over that company that billed us.
On March 30, 2020, the Hungarian Parliament passed the so-called “Enabling Act”. In the future, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will, therefore, be able to govern by decree without parliamentary approval. Despite the spread of the new coronavirus, this shouldn’t have happened.
Amid the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party in Poland shows no intention of postponing the presidential elections scheduled for May 10. The outcome is likely to be deemed illegitimate. Will this be the last straw for Polish democracy?
Coronavirus in Poland still bears the hallmarks of novelty, curiosity, or even a kind of ludic or fun phenomenon. At the same time, in other countries these reactions have already been replaced by completely different emotions.
