The burden of the crisis

"The crisis teaches us that, sooner or later, we have to face the consequences of our behaviour", which will add to external influences and factors. Ondrej Socuvka, president of the Central European Business and Social Initiative (CEBSI), was interviewed by SIR Europe’s correspondent in Bratislava Danka Jaceckova on the impact of the economic crisis in central European countries. What is Central European Business and Social Initiative (CEBSI) and what are the main scopes of this institution?"CEBSI is an independent, apolitical and non-profit non-governmental organization. Its mission is to support economic and social systems and policies, based on essential moral values and respecting freedom of every man. Activities of CEBSI are founded on universal idea of personal responsibility, private enterpreneurship, solidarity and free market. CEBSI tries to overcome prejudices and wrong perception of these values, still present in the countries of Central Europe. Our institution promotes its aims by organizing series of educational programs, seminars, conferences, discussions and public lectures, cooperating with renowned experts and organizations within the region of Central Europe as well as behind its borders, working together with our partner institutions in Austria, Poland, Czech republic, Hungary, Croatia and other countries".How did the economic crisis reflect on life of these states?"Currently, we perceive economic crisis in our countries mainly through growing unemployment and weak economic growth. In a long-time horizon, we witness negative attitudes of inhabitants towards enterpreneurship and enterpreneurs in Central Europe. These feelings often reflect negative examples of dishonest enterpreneurs, but disregard a number of small, medium enterpreneurs, as well as many large ones, who create values with their honest work, who give jobs to fathers and mothers of families. Economic crisis has accentuated these stereotypes even more. As a result, many people prefer to remain passive rather than try to overcome obstacles and help themselves, their relatives or community surrounding them".How would you describe general attitude of Central European countries in regard to solution of the crisis?"Many citizens in Central Europe get carried away by the illusion that the state will take care of each of them during the crisis, no matter if they try themselves. This is associated with two kinds of risk. One of them is a blind faith in populistic promises of politicians. This attitude is not only irresponsible towards future generations, but at the same time it doesn’t reflect basic values of teaching of the Catholic Church, particularly the value of love, subsidiarity and justice. Another risk is associated with disability to see and critically evaluate decisions of state officers which are often ineffective, too bureaucratic and corrupted. These attitudes have their roots in ideology of communism, which – unfortunately – had influenced thinking of many people during 40 years of its reign.What is the current situation in managing the economic crisis in the region of Central Europe like? "The EU is an international project that has brought peace and stability to Europe. Unfortunately, common economic and financial rules were often evaluated in two ways. Smaller countries were forced to adhere to fiscal rules very strictly, whilst wasting of public sources in bigger states was tolerated. Citizens of some countries got used to a nice life ‘above their standards’ and whole generations lived on credit. Peace and stability, as well as support of the EU in fight against the communist regimes, have brought high political support and positive feelings towards the project of European integration. In the past, inhabitants of Central Europe used to live more modestly and responsibly. Current economic problems of the EU and mainly reluctance to realize the consequences of behavior in some countries, acknowledge personal responsibility and start more modest life, are the cause of the fact that Central European citizens lose their faith in support and effective solutions by the EU".