Annual Letter 2020 – We say thank you!

Time and again, voices from in- and outside the EU demanded for the Council of the EU to move from unanimous decision-making in matters of foreign and security policy to qualified majority voting. Moreover, concerns have been voiced that the block's unanimity requirement seriously impedes its ability to act fast and step up as a reliable and credible global actor in a fast-changing world. Nevertheless, even though these calls for a decision-making reform are not new, it is unlikely that the rules will change anytime soon and that the EU will move to qualified majority voting in crucial areas such as foreign and security policy.

Covert Action (CA) has been a point of contention within political and foreign policy discourse, with constant discussions about the legalities of targeted killings and enhanced interrogation techniques. There are vast historical examples of U.S. intervention abroad which complicated matters in their respective regions, in some cases having an opposite effect than what was intended, in other cases resulting in scandals that eroded the public’s faith in governmental institutions, and in other cases simply resulting in a less stable country or government. In spite of all the discussion about covert action, it is undeniable that it can be extremely beneficial when dealing with foreign powers and with new issues like non-state actors and international terrorism.

This year amidst the Corona Crisis, the Polish party PiS (Law and Order) has managed to push through a bill, which gives the polish public media TVP and Polskie Radio two billion zloty as a compensation for the losses they have faced during the pandemic. This among others, gives room for debate about who gives the direction of the public discourse and what are thus the conditions of existence for other players such as independent media.

There is something named ‘sustainable development’. A kind of development that lets us fulfil all our needs without compromising the needs of those that will come after us thanks to a balance between economic development, environment care, and social wellbeing. That’s the way to go for humanity if we are to arrive in 2050 with acceptable - not comfortable - living conditions.How to achieve it? Not with many libertarians on the planet, to be honest. Authorities - namely the State -  have to take the lead and step in with regulations and enforcement to actually achieve anything by the sorts of sustainable development, because our little rebel minds just won’t.