What dual pricing reveals about Slovakia’s struggle to build prosperous regions.
The author is a former Slovak lawmaker, heads an impact investment fund and is a visiting professor at Sciences Po in Paris and the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.
I enjoy swimming. Over the past 12 months, I have visited municipal — that is, city-run — swimming pools across Europe. Besides my home city of Bratislava, these included Paris, Berlin, Žilina and Michalovce.
The most expensive admission fee was not one I paid beneath the Eiffel Tower, nor at the beautiful, renovated swimming pool in the centre of the German capital. The highest price — specifically €6 for one hour — was charged to me by a municipal social enterprise in the capital of the Zemplín region.
At first glance, it sounds almost unbelievable: the most expensive admission fee I paid was in one of the poorest regions of the European Union. Who would go there?
