People's mobility would effectively be lowered to a minimum, while "military discipline" would be observed and the army would take care of supplies. Prime Minister Igor Matovič (OĽaNO) conceded on Wednesday that a so-called 'blackout', by which he imagines an extraordinary state lasting several weeks, may be introduced in Slovakia. According to Matovič, such a temporary state would make it possible to jump start the economy as early as possible, as it's set to suffer long term given the current situation.
His coalition partner, Economy Minister and Freedom and Solidarity leader Richard Sulík stated in reaction to the idea of a 'blackout' that he's strongly against any experiments that would liquidate the economy. Sulík explained that if no extraordinary events take place, he will be against any proposal to switch off the country. Vice-premier for Investments and Informatisation Veronika Remišová (For the People) also rejects the motion of putting Slovakia into blackout. In Remišová's view, it is the state that needs to switch to the highest gear and deliver hard work at this stage by testing more people and securing more medical equipment and items.
Parliamentary Vice-chair and former prime minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) also showed his disregard of the blackout plan and called on coalition partners to "use common sense to stop this experiment and social engineering and, on the other hand, to ensure that the measures taken so far are observed".
Representatives of employers, the Employers Unions Association, are among the most vocal critics of the proposal by PM Igor Matovič (OĽaNO), claiming that such a blackout would usher in a complete collapse of the business environment. According to the association, the blackout would make sense only if it were joined by all countries on the European continent.
The complete shutting down of Slovakia seems to former finance minister [2002-06, 2010-12] and co-architect of Slovak flat tax Ivan Mikloš a bad idea, with enormous direct and indirect economic ramifications. Mikloš told TASR news agency that the most sensible solution to the current coronavirus outbreak is to make intense preparations for the next two months, in order to be able to handle growing number of the infected.
