Slavenka Drakulic on How Capitalism Impacts Quality in Post-Communist Countries
January 6, 2021
One morning at breakfast, while cutting a slice of dark bread and spreading butter on it, I was transported back to the 1950s, to our old kitchen in the former Yugoslavia. I was eating the very same breakfast from childhood, a slice of dark bread and butter with a spoon of jam on top. There wasn’t much else to eat back then except three kinds of bread: black, half-white and white. No fancy cornflakes, no croissants or Danish pastries. The whole family drank either coffee made of barley or chicory, with milk, or a cup of so-called black Russian tea. It was while visiting relatives in Italy in the mid-1960s that I tried a chocolate spread called Nutella for the first time; it was the finest thing I had ever tasted. Having it for breakfast was a true feast for me.
Emergency measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 have taken a heavy toll on Europe’s civil society. Although mostly justifiable and necessary to save lives, these measures should never offer a carte blanche to governments to turn what was initially an urgent response into the permanent demise of the rule of law. So finds a recent EESC hearing.
The European Economic and Social Committee has conducted a virtual hearing on the fundamental rights, democracy and rule of law aspects of the COVID-19 crisis.
Held on the occasion of Human Rights Day on 10 December, the webinar explored how the emergency measures taken by Member States to tackle the pandemic have affected the situation of Europe’s employers, workers and civil society organisations, especially seen in the light of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Per Hilmersson
occupational health issue. The workplace provides fertile ground for the transmission of the virus.
If the European Union and its member states fail to guarantee health and safety for all workers, it will be more difficult to provide essential activities during lockdowns and to recover from the crisis. Trade unions are therefore calling on the European Commission to formally recognise coronavirus as an occupational disease and take more action together with member states and employers to protect workers.
European Trade Union Institute research shows that EU governments have done far too little to counter workplace risks from the pandemic. Work is one of the main channels of transmission and social inequalities have put some groups in greater danger than others. Yet authorities and employers across Europe have failed to provide adequate protective equipment for high-risk, front-line carers or to implement full safety measures for workers in healthcare, transport, ret