15/11/2006 10:24:32 am
Stirring the European Parliament. A Member of the European Parliament, Vladimir Manka, a Socialist from Slovakia, did not appreciate my message in Bratislava. Clearly, he belongs to those who want to introduce a so-called social model of big government in Slovakia and wants to use the Nordic countries as an argument for that.

My activities in Bratislava, including the large interview in Trend, Slovakia′s version of The Economist, seem to have made his task difficult. There, I argue that other countries might learn from the free-market reforms of the Nordic countries, but should avoid their big government. Thus, Mr Manka has now translated the Trend articles and sent to all the Swedish Members of the European Parliament. He claims to be "shocked" and asks whether Timbro is a reliable source of information and if I am a respected analyst in Sweden.

I will let others be the judge of that. One could perhaps, in all modesty, wish that the facts and arguments that I put forth should be judged by their own merit and not by who is the messenger. But this is where the fun continues. The non-Socialist Swedish MEP:s seem to confirm the credibility of the messenger, whereas the Socialist ones do quite the opposite.

Somehow the assessment of credibility seems to follow whether you agree with the message or not. Another way to determine which arguments are the strongest is a public debate - which I would be happy to have with Mr Manka at any time. To be continued, I hope...

(Thanks, Christofer!)