In the year of the COVID-19 crisis, Czechs must endure one more month of work for the state. After June 24, 2020, they will start earning money for themselves. Until then, for 175 days, they only work for the state. This is the least free year since 2000.
There are relatively strict and complex state aid rules applied across the developed world. In the EU database alone, there are no less than 33,000 such cases of reported or investigated state aid cases in the last 20 years.
It was a long yearning of mine to write a short piece about political caricature in 19th century France. I will not. Not because I wouldn’t want to, or I wouldn’t think it’s interesting, but because you wouldn’t. I know this, because upon getting inspired to the brink of writing, I asked 4Liberty’s excellent editor, Olga Łabendowicz, to furnish me with data as to what articles perform the best on the website. And because I…
The “you-know-what” brings out the worst in governments. It is one of the rare occasions that the military is used domestically. In some countries, it oversees the operation of strategic institutions and businesses.
Poland has one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws, yet the government hopes to reduce healthcare provision for women even more by criminalizing abortions in cases of severe fetal abnormalities.
The “Coronavirus Law” adopted by the Hungarian Parliament on March 30 did not only enable Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to govern by decree for an unlimited period of time, but also suspended elections and referendums. With the passing of the emergency law, the parliament had disempowered itself.
The delayed elections give the opposition a small but significant window of opportunity to make known the responsibilities of the office of president – to make often tricky decisions for the good of the nation. President Duda has already shown to be Kaczynski’s president, not the people’s president.
Wide access to data will allow for a better understanding of the mechanisms of virus transmission and progress in the fight against the epidemic.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has led to numerous legislative changes in countries around the world. However, some governments quickly recognized this as a unique opportunity for further concentration and consolidation of power.
In times of crisis, it is easy to make mistakes, and no one can be infallible. One of the most characteristic signs of the crisis is its politicization. All parties want to prove that they have the best program and ideas to get out of the crisis.
