Why is it that the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers is unable to pick up a calendar in early January each year and spend three hours planning the national holiday scheme for the whole year at once? Let it be that Ukraine’s political situation is anything but stable and that there might be more important things for the politicians to worry about than people’s vacations, but the mess around the May holiday recommendations goes truly unmatched as far as logic – or the lack of it – is concerned.
Letting people know with a two‑day notice that they ought to work on the weekend and then have five days off might be OK for a totalitarian country where the freedom of movement and individual choice is restricted anyway, but is unacceptable in a free society where people might want to plan possible trips and holidays at least some time in advance. Perhaps it’s naive to expect logical from the political establishment, but you’d think even they might want to plan their free time – not to mention their business – in a normal manner.
Malin Ahlbeck
Kyiv
