Slovakia going back on market economy

Anyone caught raising prices either in the run-up to or during Slovakia's conversion to the euro at the beginning of next year could face up to three years in prison at the government's discretion. Author Ľubomír Heinrich criticises the government plans in a blog for the Slovakian daily Sme. "Twenty years after the revolution, socialism has made a comeback. Our constitution does say something about a social and ecological market economy, but what role could the government's plan have in such a context? In a market economy the following principle applies: the market sets the price -full stop. For forty years we had a centralised planned economy, and we all know how that worked out. ... The state should intervene in the price politics of monopolies that have no competitors. Other prices are none of its business - not even with the introduction of the euro."

» full article (external link, Slovak)
More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Trade, » Consumers, » Economic Policy, » Slovakia