Both euro-optimists and euro-critics agree that the European Union is facing critical challenges these days, it is not strong enough and the bloc must implement significant changes to fulfil its original aims and secure peace and progress for its citizens.
Poland has imposed a state of emergency along its border with Belarus, holding back small groups of men, women and children who are refugees from Afghanistan, Syria, and other countries. They are without shelter, clean water, food, and access to medical help.
Afghanistan is in immense economic and social insecurity and on top of that, millions of people are wondering what to expect in the upcoming period, after the violent Taliban takeover. Are the Taliban concerned with how children’s lives change?
As the world remembers the victims of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre, conspiracy theories about what “really” happened are resurfacing and continue to roam the Internet twenty years after the event, although most have been disproven and none confirmed by experts.
“More free market or more government? How to strengthen post-pandemic recovery?”. It was the title of a panel hosted by the FOR during the Economic Forum in Karpacz, Poland, the largest conference of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe. The panel was supported by Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. Agata Stremecka, President of FOR, moderated the discussion.
The cost of emissions reductions over the last two decades in the EU has been significant. In Slovakia alone, people pay hundreds of millions of euros a year to support renewable energy sources, with millions more going on insulation and boiler subsidies, or the development of electromobility. A significant part of the cost is hidden in higher prices for goods, as manufacturers have to buy emission allowances.
If we want to start talking about next year’s minimum wage increase, we first need to look to the past. As we all know, 2020 was the year of the pandemic, and that brought with it, among other things, a significant downturn in the economy, and with it a fall in labor productivity. The private sector responded logically by reducing the growth in average wages. But not all businesses had this option.
The football season in Bulgaria has begun, and with it, a new contract for television rights has entered into force. The contract is for five seasons (until 2026), and the clubs, as announced by the Bulgarian Football Union (BFS) last year, will BGN earn 6.5 million each season. UEFA reports show that about 7% of the income of the First League teams in Bulgaria comes from television rights.
At the end of May, the IME wrote that it was high time for a ramp-up of vaccine efforts in Bulgaria. By this, we meant that the vaccination process should be made the first and foremost governmental priority, and that as many tools as possible should be sought and employed to speed up the pace.
The reason was obvious. The country was substantially far behind achieving the set target – vaccinating 70% of the adult population by the end of August.
Measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic have limited a number of fundamental rights to an unprecedented extent. The rights of economic activity, movement, assembly and religious worship have been subjected to the most severe restrictions. Here, however, lies the great danger of the gradual consolidation of a constitutional mithridatism.
