Spain is the Most Libertarian Country in Europe and The Best
Place to Get a Drink
People often use the term “nanny state” to mock laws and
policies that are designed to nanny the population of a country and stop them
from being able to do and think what they want. Many British people feel that
the UK is quickly becoming a Nanny State. Most of Scandinavia is also stuck
with that label. Even though Scandinavia and the UK do have strong economies
and are seen as nice places to live, they are also thought of as being too
controlling.
It’s become such a problem that the European Policy Information
Center (EPICENTER) has developed their own Nanny State Index to show how much
government control each European state exercises.
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| Come to Spain its the best country in Europe ! |
The results of the latest index will be interesting to many.
They prove that some of these stereotypes do hold true. Finland, Sweden and the
UK and Ireland do indeed exercise the most control over their citizens.
Unsurprisingly perhaps most former Soviet nations have the most lax policies.
The index would rate nations based on their free-market and
libertarian ideals across numerous factors. This included their stance on
alcohol, healthcare, food and smoking. The ranking showed that Spain was the
most carefree when it comes to alcohol. They have duty-free wine and low taxes
on spirits and beer and great Spanish
restaurants. They also have no statutory closing time on bars, pubs and
clubs. This makes Spain the best destination in Europe to enjoy a great drink.
Spain also ranked best for food. The Spanish have a
similarly lax attitude to dining late. They also eat anything they want when
they want and don’t care so much about health and safety, making Spain the
freest country for people looking to eat a hearty meal with one of the lowest cost of
living.
Overall though Spain was let down in other areas and still
ranked in the lower half. It was actually the Czech Republic that was ranked
the freest nation in Europe. In a surprising turn Germany was ranked second.
The report says that most of the laws and taxes in Spain that
make up the Nanny State Index were introduced with the idea that they would
improve public health. This is surprising considering that Spain is the country
with the second highest life expectancy after Japan. As a result the index went
on to conclude that there is no direct correlation between these nanny state
regulations and a higher life expectancy.
So there you have definitive proof that the government
doesn’t know what it’s talking about after all. None of these rules improve
your life expectancy. So go to Spain and eat, drink and be merry.
