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.
Two weeks ago, the Mayor of Prague Zdeněk Hřib and his Taiwanese counterpart, Ko Wen-je, signed a partnership agreement on joint economic and cultural cooperation between the two capitals – Prague and Taipei.
30 years ago the Velvet Revolution began with a demonstration in Prague. It started all of a sudden. Then, it all happened very quickly. The communist regime, which had remained in power by force since 1948, had become hollow and rotten in Czechoslovakia.
Bureaucracy is still a burden for both entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens. One of the reasons why the political “fight” has not achieved remarkable success in fighting the red tape, is a missing connection between politics and the everyday life of entrepreneurs.
Many Westerners have seen the break-up of the Eastern Bloc as the long-expected moment of reconnection with the countries of Central Europe. Formerly, in the interwar years, these states formed a crucial part of the order within the region.
With the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc in 1989, transformation has started. The countries such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria changed their political vector from the East to the West. Political and economic changes were done fast – to a greater or less successful degree.
The Nanny State Index 2019 measures the level of restrictive regulations governing the sale and consumption of food, non-alcoholic beverages, alcohol, tobacco, and e-cigarettes. The higher a country’s ranking, the more restrictive the regulations.
Looking at the results in the V4 countries (Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary) helps gain a better understanding of the popularity of liberals. In the 2019 European elections, liberal parties performed quite well, especially in light of the popularity of the far-right in the region.
Czechs are often labelled as the biggest Eurosceptics in the whole Europe. However, the new research suggests otherwise. Almost two thirds of the nation are proud to be part of Europe and more than half of the the people are happy with the EU membership. So what is the problem?
The aim of this article is to explain why Czech media and politicians even raised the possibility of leaving the EU (calling it Czexit), to focus on the debate surrounding this subject, and to try evaluating if or when such a debate might become an issue before the 2019 European Parliamentary elections.
