Slovakia

In Slovakia, political discourse around Central Europe continues to be dominated by the growing popularity of extreme solutions. This trend is expressly demonstrated by current popular preferences attributed to parties on both the extreme left and right in all countries of the central European region.

Since the great expansion of the EU in 2004, we are constantly hearing concerns about so-called social dumping from hard-core, traditional EU members. What at first seems to be an action against imminent threats to social standards in Western Europe is in fact a sophisticated instrument to eliminate competition from new EU members.

Two interesting debates are being led simultaneously in Slovakia. One on subsidies to support the mining of lignite in the upper Nitra region and the other on the unconditional basic income for all. The interconnection between the two could bring so many positive effects that I am left to wonder why nobody has thought of this so far.

Let´s be honest with ourselves: the Slovak economy and the economies of other countries on the brink of the potential core have fundamentally different parameters. What we share is the euro and our desire to belong to the core. However, this is not enough.

INESS has been one of the few opponents of the regulation. We included the abolition of the cash payment restrictions in our long-term competitiveness program Top20. Also, thanks to our advocacy, the (currently) biggest opposition party included a partial easing of the regulations (rising the EUR 5,000 limit to EUR 15,000) in its 2016 election program.

The system of concealing the actual amount of employee contributions (employers\' contributions) and the transfer of the obligation to tax returns and the calculation of contributions and taxes to the employer, made the employees fiscally illiterate.

Fortunately, this time, the Slovaks are actually doing something right. Despite all the protracted protests of taxi drivers, liberals from the ranks of the opposition decided to amend the Road Transport Act. The aim of this legislative endeavor is to address precisely the issues that were brought up at the inception of the backlash against Uber.

A profound majority of BC´s computing power and trade volume comes from China. Yet, the Slovak government has been continuously concentrating its efforts in the carefully navigated state process of undermining the use of BC in the country. Fortunately,so far to no avail.

BlaBlaCar has been operating since 2004. Yet, it penetrated the Slovak market only in 2016. Its purpose is simple: to share car rides. If you are driving long distances or going in the same direction as somebody else who owns a car, you can pick up a passenger or even become one in order to share your travel expenses.

Why do conditions for doing business and entrepreneurship keep deteriorating when politicians are trying to convince us on a daily basis that they want to improve them instead? No deeds follow their words. Although the government pretends to listen to our concerns, they do not usually take them into account.