Articles

The Greeks do not understand the imperative need for the reforms. Nor are they ready to reform. With the external pressure of the EU and other international institutions being the only reason to institute reforms, it is hard to expect any breakthrough. And this is the key problem.

From 2012 to 2014 Lithuania increased its minimum monthly wage by almost one third (from 800 Litas in 2012 to 1,035 Litas in 2014). There are suggestions to increase the minimum wage in 2015 even more the supporters of the idea claim that companies would adapt. But is it all that simple? According to the survey conducted by LFMI, minimum wage increases come at a cost and they eventually bring several negative consequences.

Google has been targeted by the European Commission. The IT giant has been accused of prioritizing its price comparison services in search engines. To illustrate, when comparing prices from two dealers, Google Shopping comes out on the screen. Formally, one can of course justify an investigation as a potential abuse of the dominant position by Google, but what is the real cause?

People are either cannibals or creators. The fundamental difference between the two is how in their opinion the world works. What to do when you\'re hungry – eat a neighbour or come up with a solution to growing vegetables in the middle of winter? Is the world a “zero-sum game” in which one can prosper only if others suffer? Yes would be the answer of a cannibal.

After a long negotiation between milk producers, processors and sellers, the Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture has proposed a new bill that would severely tighten the regulation of the Lithuanian dairy market. The authors of the bill claim that their intention is to protect Lithuanian producers, bring confidence to the market and boost the consumption of milk products. But […]

“Nations, just like women, experience brief moments of intoxication. But those moments pass soon enough.”. Adam Michnik talks to Leszek Jażdżewski, editor-in-chief of Polish liberal quarterly magazine Liberté!, about how a brief moment of European weakness will affect Russia in the end and what can go wrong in the meantime.

Free Market Road Show 2015 has visited Bratislava, Slovakia on April 14, 2015. The event organized by INESS in cooperation with Austrian Economics Center was a part of the unique conference tour that visits 36 cities around Europe and Caucasus from April till May.

The 2015 Free Market Road Show® in Lubljana brought together leading businessmen, scholars, opinion makers, public policy experts, elected officials, diplomats, students, and other interested parties from across Europe and the world to discuss the kind of Europe its citizens want to develop.

The presidential project of the fiscal ordinance was supposed to improve this complex situation. The uncertainties in regulations were supposed to be interpreted in favour of the taxpayers. In other words, the responsibility for legal errors (bungles) would lie on the national state and not on physical persons.

IES-Europe together with CEI, IME (Bulgaria), NES (Georgia) and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom are organizing three Summer Seminars in 2015 – Bulgaria (July 12-18), Germany (July 19-25) and Georgia (July 21 - 26). Join us and get a better understanding of ideas that allow humans to flourish and prosper!