Eu expands

[FW200 0]

Tonight , at midnight , 10 new nations (These being Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and the Greek part of Cyprus) will join the EU.

What are your feelings on this subject , is this a good thing or not?

[denoir 0]

As my signature says: Welcome

Btw, from midnight CET this forum will be within EU borders

The expansion is a very cool thing, but also very difficult to predict. There will be a shift of power balance in the EU, that's for sure. For the economic part I think that on short term (2-5 years) it will be expensive to gear up the new members to the level of the rest of the EU. Beyond that it will be very benefitial for all the EU members.

[bn880 5]

I also believe it is a good thing, and will make for a better situation across the board (except negotiations)

[hellfish6 7]

Cool. With the new additions, do you guys think that France and Germany might lose some of their pull? It seems to me that they have a big say in what the EU says and does.

[denoir 0]

Yupp, very likely. Enlargement numbers:

Quote[/b] ]

10 new countries (up to 25)

74 million people (up to 455m)

444bn euro of extra GDP

(up to 9,613bn)

738,573 sq km of territory

(up to 4m sq km)

Anyway, I'm off to a expansion celebration party

[Gadger 0]

I think Czech, Hungary and Poland was long overdue.

Great to have the others also

[EiZei 0]

I think Czech, Hungary and Poland was long overdue.

Great to have the others also

I recall that Slovenia and Estonia were the most competent applicants though.

[Pathy 0]

No, Slovenia is one of the weakest. Edit, my bad, i mean Slovakia. rest still stands

The Czech Republic is the stongest economy of all of those.

Welcome  

[SpecOp9 0]

wow...more land without a war? That's a new one.

[WhoCares 0]

So far welcome to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Greek part of Cyprus (while it is sad that the same greeks denied the access to Europe for their turkish neighbors...). Let's celebrate the Europe of the 19 - for another 25 mins  

There are actually some quite progressive countries joining Europe. In Estonia they have even per constitution guranteed access to the Internet, iirc.

I would definatly celebrate more tonight, if I were not sick at home But there is still room for another whisky

[raedor 8]

i think this is a very important moment in the history of europe. after the years of cold war...

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

But the border moving eastwards is always a tough fate for eastern people who can only survive through cigarette smuggling (1 example of many). Before they had a relatively easy way to get into poland and earn the bucks they needed to survive. It is no secret that many former USSR cities near the border had a strong population growth because of this possibility. Now the border is heavily patroled. It is said that those poor smugglers have zero to no chance anymore to enter into poland. And many of them have lost the last opportunity to earn their bread. And those smugglers werent criminal organisation, they were mainly old mamas.  

[WhoCares 0]

And another welcome, now to Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and the Czech Republic.

And with that, esp. welcome to the people at Bohemia Interactive Studio. May the new/additional/changing bureaucracy not hamper you to much to release OFP2 in time

Down with another fine whisky

<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Note to myself: next time fetch a more appropriate drink in advance</span>

[raedor 8]

But the border moving eastwards is always a tough fate for eastern people who can only survive through cigarette smuggling (1 example of many). Before they had a relatively easy way to get into poland and earn the bucks they needed to survive. It is no secret that many former USSR cities near the border had a strong population growth because of this possibility. Now the border is heavily patroled. It is said that those poor smugglers have zero to no chance anymore to enter into poland. And many of them have lost the last opportunity to earn their bread. And those smugglers werent criminal organisation, they were mainly old mamas.

war das ernst gemeint?

are you kidding?

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

But the border moving eastwards is always a tough fate for eastern people who can only survive through cigarette smuggling (1 example of many). Before they had a relatively easy way to get into poland and earn the bucks they needed to survive. It is no secret that many former USSR cities near the border had a strong population growth because of this possibility. Now the border is heavily patroled. It is said that those poor smugglers have zero to no chance anymore to enter into poland. And many of them have lost the last opportunity to earn their bread. And those smugglers werent criminal organisation, they were mainly old mamas.  

war das ernst gemeint?  

are you kidding?

No I wasnt. I watched a long critical report on that the other day on german TV! Not kidding at all.

[Ex-RoNiN 0]

Regarding the Cyprus issue:

1) It is not a Turkish vs. Greek issue. It is an internal Cypriot one. Therefore it would be more correct to refer to North and South Cyprus.

2) The Southern Cypriots did NOT vote against unification. They voted against the Annan plan, which was a complete load of tosh.

[raedor 8]

[edit]@albert:[/edit]

so then... the border from poland to germany was heavily patroled before, right? the smugglers surely wanted to sell their stuff in the EU not in poland. now they only have to cross the eastern polish border and can transport their stuff everywere. before they had to cross one more border.

and if you ask me: i don't take care of smugglers. if you'd say that the economy in the "not-yet-in-the-EU" states will go down... but smugglers?

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

[edit]@albert:[/edit]

so then... the border from poland to germany was heavily patroled before, right? the smugglers surely wanted to sell their stuff in the EU not in poland. now they only have to cross the eastern polish border and can transport their stuff everywere. before they had to cross one more border.

and if you ask me: i don't take care of smugglers. if you'd say that the economy in the "not-yet-in-the-EU" states will go down... but smugglers?  

No. they sold their goods to poles. We are talking about terrible human tragedies here. Not about 1 or 2 but of several thousands who used sold their cheap staff to the relatively rich polish population.

[raedor 8]

Regarding the Cyprus issue:

1) It is not a Turkish vs. Greek issue. It is an internal Cypriot one. Therefore it would be more correct to refer to North and South Cyprus.

2) The Southern Cypriots did NOT vote against unification. They voted against the Annan plan, which was a complete load of tosh.

to 1) can you say me then why the turkish army and the turkish government discussed about that issue. and why the army said that when cyprus gets unificated this will be a "security problem" for turkey?

[Ex-RoNiN 0]

Regarding the Cyprus issue:

1) It is not a Turkish vs. Greek issue. It is an internal Cypriot one. Therefore it would be more correct to refer to North and South Cyprus.

2) The Southern Cypriots did NOT vote against unification. They voted against the Annan plan, which was a complete load of tosh.

to 1) can you say me then why the turkish army and the turkish government discussed about that issue. and why the army said that when cyprus gets unificated this will be a "security problem" for turkey?

The Turkish Army never had a say about this in Cyprus. In Turkey, however, the Army does have a reasonably loud voice, however, internal Turkish policies don't interest me unless they have Greece as a subject.

The Turkish Government got involved as part of the deal that was agreed upon by both Cypriot sides, which stated that if at some stage no progress was made, the governments of Greece and Turkey would get involved in the negotiations.

[WhoCares 0]

wistling Beethovens 'Ode an the Freude'

Kaliningrad is now an interesting border - a part of russia surrounded by Europe. I have seen report last evening: average income Kaliningrad: ~60-80€, surrounding Europe ~400-500€...

[Postduifje 0]

Welcome Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania Malta and Cyprus . Great to have you all in our club, I'll be checking our new EU borders in Poland and Slovakia this summer

[raedor 8]

[edit]@albert:[/edit]

so then... the border from poland to germany was heavily patroled before, right? the smugglers surely wanted to sell their stuff in the EU not in poland. now they only have to cross the eastern polish border and can transport their stuff everywere. before they had to cross one more border.

and if you ask me: i don't take care of smugglers. if you'd say that the economy in the "not-yet-in-the-EU" states will go down... but smugglers?

No. they sold their goods to poles. We are talking about terrible human tragedies here. Not about 1 or 2 but of several thousands who used sold their cheap staff to the relatively rich polish population.

if the tax would have been paid for all those cigarettes they smuggled, maybe their government would now have the money to "make" jobs for them.

@ex-ronin: and who gurantees the power of denktas in north cyprus? his private army?

[Ex-RoNiN 0]

[edit]@albert:[/edit]

so then... the border from poland to germany was heavily patroled before, right? the smugglers surely wanted to sell their stuff in the EU not in poland. now they only have to cross the eastern polish border and can transport their stuff everywere. before they had to cross one more border.

and if you ask me: i don't take care of smugglers. if you'd say that the economy in the "not-yet-in-the-EU" states will go down... but smugglers?  

No. they sold their goods to poles. We are talking about terrible human tragedies here. Not about 1 or 2 but of several thousands who used sold their cheap staff to the relatively rich polish population.

if the tax would have been paid for all those cigarettes they smuggled, maybe their government would now have the money to "make" jobs for them.

@ex-ronin: and who gurantees the power of denktas in north cyprus? his private army?

How the hell should I know, I'm not Cypriot?

[MLF 0]

As my signature says: Welcome

Btw, from midnight CET this forum will be within EU borders  

The expansion is a very cool thing, but also very difficult to predict. There will be a shift of power balance in the EU, that's for sure. For the economic part I think that on short term (2-5 years) it will be expensive to gear up the new members to the level of the rest of the EU. Beyond that it will be very benefitial for all the EU members.

Its not that great the total wealth they bring to the table equats to what the Netherlans brings in alone, along with the fact of increased outward migration from these countries along with the fact that most of them i feel are not fully economically developed to join fully into the EU.