F.A. Hayek Foundation

Carrousel of changes at the Slovakian Ministry of Education is not an anomaly but rather an illustration of the instability and unpredictability, which in public sector seems to be adopted as systemic solution.

What will happen if there accidentally will be a change of government in Russia under the pressure of economic sanctions? This would be a success for European Union, but at the same time it would not solve the fact that Russian propaganda of nationalism has build anticipation in Russian society that a new leader will have to face, having in mind his own reputation.

The problem is that their current effort is mainly defined by the bureaucracy and by the need for centralized decision making. But the real needs of the EU economy will not be met.

So, what can we expect from this newly formed Juncker´s bunch? Through closer look at the list of newly approved Euro Commissioners, we cannot overlook, at least, two positions where first one is definitely a positive message, while the second is clearly a bad one.

In the mid-2000s when the Central and Eastern European bloc of countries joined the EU in two waves, Europe found itself facing new challenges on its outskirts and realised the need to assert its influence in these countries.

Fairytales are an inseparable part of not only child\'s world, but even many grown-ups believe in fairytales. There is an interesting category in this genre, the so-called European fairytales, in which grown-ups in Brussels believe. One of the newest is that about the real Economic and Monetary union. It goes like this.

The irony specific to the Kremlin’s new paranoia is that Russia still attributes some mythical power to the United States, a power which has all but dissipated over the past two decades.

From time to time, our media report that Slovakia has once again fallen in another competitiveness ranking. The papers write about it for a day or two, the TV stations show a few reports, opposition barks a bit, the government refuses the criticism and challenges the results. However, the topic usually does not live to see its third day in the media.

Ukraine shows that, when pressure is applied, Potemkin institutions reveal themselves for what they really are. The lessons for countries in the neighborhood, most of all Russia, should be apparent, as, although there are major differences between Ukraine and its anxious neighbor, at the most fundamental levels, the institutional stagnation is the same.

Entrepreneurs in Slovakia have not the very best reputation. In media they usually appear in connection with negative matters, so that the publicity wrongly divides them just into two categories: those who stole money during the privatization and those who are stealing today by public procurement.