At the end of the day, efforts to protect domestic businesses are always paid by the consumers. Nothing is free, the same is true also for protectionism. It leads to higher prices and worse quality of services that protected businesses offer.
French President Emmanuel Macron has embarked on a mission to Central and Eastern Europe with a strange idea. He lobbies for a directive to shorten the stay and to increase the salaries of our posted workers, from the minimum wage level, to salaries equal up to the level of French or German employees in the sector.
The Swedish think tank Timbro has presented its “Authoritarian Populism Index”. The index “aims to shed light on whether populism poses a long-term threat to European liberal democracies” (it includes the EU countries as well as Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Serbia, and Montenegro)
Recently, the eyes of Europe were on the presidential election in France. Macron managed to convince 8.6 mln voters to support him within a year. Although no politician dares to say it out loud, by looking at the outcome, all politicians think about their own careers. And draw conclusions.
Similarly to Le Pen, Donald Trump or Brexit, Kotleba has been playing on the same phenomenon (the frustrated, dissatisfied people), which he skillfully manipulates to such an extent that he easily gets public support. The real threat to Europe is right now posed by Europeans themselves.
The major talking point of the past two weeks undoubtedly was the much anticipated outcome of the U.S. presidential election that affected the price of Bitcoin. To a similar extent, attention has been paid to India, where Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general are on the verge of a successful breakthrough.
France is facing yet another challenge. The European Commission clearly stated that a restrictive regulatory approach that they have implemented must be avoided. A difficult road is ahead for the French government as it will have to admit that the country’s licensing practices are laughably outdated and have to be removed.
Republikon Institute proposes to introduce in Hungary primary elections. We believe that this instrument of narrowing the field of candidates helps also to enhance media attention and involve citizens, thus increase the trust in the democratic opposition.
Earlier this week, the world witnessed two deals sealed by international powers: on Greece’s future in the European Union and on Iran’s future in the world. Both deals will have their political and social costs and profits, winners and losers.
The big change in the EU did not take a place and Scotland remains the part of the United Kingdom. Even though the largest city – Glasgow – voted for independence, NO won 55:45. But this is not the end of the game for Scotland.
