Bulgaria And Rumania Set To Join EU
The New York Times reports that “the European Commission recommended Tuesday that Romania and Bulgaria be admitted to the European Union on Jan. 1″.
The Times goes on to explain that the European Commission “attached unprecedented conditions, signaling that there is still deep unease about the union’s expansion eastward and the potential economic and political problems that go with it.”
Many people in West Europe feel that the EU is too big as it is. Lots of countries have joined, with whom, they feel, ‘we’ (West Europeans) have virtually no bond and, more importantly, those countries are not exactly rich, or even average regarding economic development: Bulgaria and Rumania have great corruption problems, organized crime problems and, quite simply, backwards economies. In the end, many – for instance – Dutch are not very willing to pay and to… pay, and to… pay for people living in Bulgaria or Rumania and instead of getting anything valuable in return, they fear massive immigration waves (East Europeans migrating to the West because we are much richer), unemployment and, as the Times points out as well, (raised) terrorist threats.
Both countries will receive (a lot of) agricultural subsidies, paid for, of course, by the most rich EU countries. My own country, for instance, is paying a lot to the EU and receiving less back: in other words, we are not paying for our own development, we are paying for the development of other countries.
As should be obvious, I agree with the latter. I am not willing to pay for Rumanian or Bulgarian farmers. But I am also not willing to pay for French or for Dutch farmers.
We are poisoning our own economy.
If those farms could not exist without some government subsidizing them, they shouldn’t exist. Those people should find something different, something useful to do. Something that strengthens the economy, instead of weakening it.
We pay to weaken our economy / economies. It is completely ridiculous.
That being said, I do – generally – favor expanding the EU. I favor free trade and as such, this is a marvelous tool. However, the problems the Times lists are immense in Bulgaria and Rumania. Strangely, they seem to be allowed to join before they have adequately dealt with those problems. That is the world up-side down.
Cross-posted at Liberty and Justice
4 Responses to “Bulgaria And Rumania Set To Join EU”
I predicted ten years ago or more that EU agricultural subsidies for French farmers couldn’t survive the admission of Romania. We’ll see.
Dave,
that is a very interesting question. I do not believe that it will happen that quickly, since France will not let it happen. It is highly dependent on EU subsidies.
That being said, it could very well be the first step to / real cause for aboloshing / restructuring it.
With or without subsidies, Romania entering the EU weakens it more than it streangthens it. Waves of Romanian inmigrants are a problem as it is, especially in places like France and Italy, but when Romania becomes a member state, controlling such waves will become not just hard but illegal. Romanians will have an instant right to the social services of other countries, which they will seek because they lack them in their own country. The reason the EU puts certain requirements for membership is to avoid this sort of situation, so that no one country is too much of a burden on the others. I don’t know about Bulgaria, but everything I do know about Romania makes it clear that it doesn’t yet have what it takes to join.
Of course, if the EU is trying to force Turkey down the very unwilling throats of Europeans it’s no surprise that Romania gets in.
Here come the gypsies. I hope Ukraine, Turkey, possibly even Albania and Chechnya join the EU soon. I can’t wait till this union collapses and shows people that the only right way is to have a limited and controllable union.