Besides the problems Europe is facing when it comes to competitiveness and the welfare state, the most critical and dangerous one is that of cohesion, including social cohesion.
From the security standpoint, there are three important areas where disconnection from Russia and connection with Europe are of utmost importance.
Most European liberal parties praise NATO as the cornerstone of European security, but the alliance can only be ensured if Europe increasingly agrees to take on more responsibility.
However, it isn’t only the Slovak businessmen who feel the need to adopt guidelines from Brussels wisely; it is basically everyone in the EU.
From among the EU member-states, the Hungarian government used the most lenient approach to the Russian operations in Ukraine. The opposition parties’ immediate reactions to these events made the government party express its opinion too.
That is, economy. The West has all the necessary means at its disposal to stop Putin from breaking the law. It only lacks the will to do so.
If privatisation is indeed to work its magic and liberate markets from politicians, predictable mistakes should be avoided. Thinking about privatisation failure can improve privatisation itself.
I wish I were wrong, but all the piece come together reminding of the Munich scenario, the defence of the Russian minority, Ukraine waiting for its allies to take action, the allied armies standing idle, the aggressor producing facts and a desperate fight to keep up pretences of law and order by the West.
Last week members of the third strongest and openly neo-Nazi party, the Golden Dawn, destroyed a memorial monument dedicated to a murdered musician, Pavlos Fyssas. They intimidated his family in their house and smashed several bars without any resistance from the security forces.
I am writing to you as a former prisoner of conscience from the times of Brezhnev. All other titles, which I have been awarded throughout my whole life, do not matter in the light of the Ukrainian Maidan, which is now bleeding.
