The global covid crisis has hit cities in Germany, Europe, and all around the world. A core characteristic of cities is the crowds of people you see in their centers. Cities are the place where people meet, interact, and exchange ideas.
According to the annual “Rainbow Europe Map” by the ILGA-Europe, Lithuania ranked 34th among 49 European countries in terms of legal protections for LGBT+ persons in 2020.
For Slovakia, in particular, as the extremely strong generation of “Husák’s children”* does not have a sufficient population replacement and will start to put a major strain on the health and pension systems in the coming decades.
Mobilization of Polish society to help refugees is beyond all expectations. Facebook groups where ordinary citizens offer their help have mushroomed in recent days, gathering hundreds of thousands of users.
Poems. Not the coolest word to start an article with. Too often does the word conjure up images of harrowing moments in school when we had to anxiously recite some poetry not understanding why the tacky lines matter at all. Yet, trust me, they do.
300 days. That is how long Andrzej Poczobut has been sitting in a Belarusian prison on fabricated charges. The authorities accused him of “inciting hatred on the grounds of nationality”. He may face a dozen or so years of labor camps.
Václav Havel, for what is sure, had generally no great respect towards authorities, certainly not for the bureaucratic authorities of the “very real socialism” that ruled over in his homeland.
The tax system should not be used to implement social policy objectives. The tax system should be purely a mechanism that collects from citizens and companies, in the least distortionary way, the least amount of money necessary for the functioning of the state, the financing of its obligations and its policies.
With the help of Poland’s right-wing PIS government, the Belarusian leader Lukashenko engineered a humanitarian crisis on Europe’s doorstep. In doing so, he is successfully eroding the European Union’s remaining claim to moral authority.
‘To serve or to rule?’ – this is a dilemma we face as we reflect on the fundamental principles of “the scope of powers [of the state] shall be limited by the Constitution” and “state institutions shall serve the people” on the occasion of the Constitution Day.
