EU set to punish Bulgaria over corruption

so who says that everything will be sweet and rosy once you enter the EU? You can still be singled out by the richer members for punishment and humiliation. The EU is not a union of equals. There's first class and low caste members. You don't need to tell the Bulgarians which category they belong to in the eyes of Brussels.

Dear Peter as you well know it was a Super -political decision..
It was made for many things including the fact that both Romania and Bulgaria allow NATO planes to fly over their countries in order to bombard Serbia ...

It still baffles me that Bulgaria made it into the EU as soon as they did. Really!

Bulgaria and Romania are considerably poorer than any of the 2004 entries into the EU, when countries such as Croatia would have been a better choice to take in in terms of development, corruption levels, human development index, general living standards and other elements looked at by the EU.

These statistics show what I mean in comparison to the rest of Eastern Europe these days:

GDP per capita PPP (IMF):

Slovenia - $28,010
Czech Republic - $24,236
Estonia - $21,800
Poland - $20,487
Slovakia - $20,251
Hungary - $20,000
Lithuania - $19,730
Latvia - $18,103
Croatia - $16,758
Russia - $14,692
Romania - $12,285
Bulgaria - $11,904
Serbia - $10,985
Bosnia - $10,715
Ukraine - $8,624
Belarus - $7,700
Macedonia - $7,645
Albania - $6,649
Montenegro - $3,800
Kosovo - $1,800

Note that Croatia and even Russia rank higher than both Romania and Bulgaria!

Sanctions will indeed help Bulgarians, not humiliate them! The vicious link between organized crime, business (keep in mind that 17 years ago Bulgaria's economy was entirely state run, so one wonders where all those huge businessmen came from), politicians, police officials etc... could never be broken without a great pressure from abroad. So Lowe, the ordinary Bulgarins were made second category poeple by "their" self imposed leaders. EU will only help them emancipate themselves and live as true Europeans!
Luigi, you are right. The brave decision of the then democratic government to let NATO planes over Bulgarian sky, made despite of the strong popular opinion against such a move, helped the countrie to end up in NATO and EU.

On 25 May 2008 14:11, lowe wrote:

"The EU is not a union of equals. There's first class and low caste members. You don't need to tell the Bulgarians which category they belong to in the eyes of Brussels."

@lowe - Since I am a tax payer in what you will describe as a "first class member" of the EU club, I am VERY glad to see that the Danish contribution to the EU budget - paid in part by MY TAX MONEY - is not ending up in the pockets of corrupt officials in Bulgaria!

I guess your view is slightly different because it is not YOUR money?

In this case I think only one word applies, and that is: Pay up, or shut up!

No offence Peter, bit your comment reminds me of other comments around here with the I don't know how much of the world's GDP recognizing the UDI.
What I can see and feel is that in Romania the GDP growth rate is one of the highest in Europe and against all odds for T1 this year it was an economic growth of 7.5%.
Also there are other aspects like private agriculture for own consumption which is not included in calculations and is dominant in the rural areas and is, unfortunatelly, maybe the only way of preserving most of the local tradition (something that we care about). and we do not border Germany.

Luigi
First, I don't remember if also Bulgaria allowed it.
Second, my guess is that the high profit rates made in Romania by many of the "old" EU countries was more like a decisive factor.
Plus, it was all paid. I will only mention Italy with only 2 examples: around 1.2 bn Euro contracts in construction and 300 mn euro contract for Alenia for military transport airplanes.

Finally, Bulgaria will get it this time for the organized crime, which is totally understandable. Something that we never had around here in high degrees and anyway lower than in most "old" EU countries.

great post. can we see a link to the statistics?

@Adrian
Romania % Bulgaria received a "push" in order to be part of the club ...In the case of Italy it was obvious since economically is a primary partner of both countries and beside there are many other links between us and it was easier for politicians because public opinion was in favour (at that time more than 60% )
But if you think of Turkey ...who was best fit ?
The other problem is what happened since joining the club and is not all kisses and roses...

Sorry, forgot Moldova.

Moldova - $2,962

"....because of corruption in this country"

What about Romania? A lucky escape? It is one of the countries who opposes Kosova's independence...))

Luigi

What could possibly be the super political decisions of taking any of the Western Balkan states (apart from Croatia) in the EU? I only see those countries as a new investment playground, nothing else really.

adrian

No offense taken, they are just statistics off the IMF website, but it just makes me think that Romania and Bulgaria should have probably had done more preperations in order to integrate into the EU, that's all I meant.

Jan Andersen, DK

Why is it that every Albanian with EU citizenship makes such a big deal of it whenever there's an opportunity to do so? It's only citizenship, you know.

so who says that everything will be sweet and rosy once you enter the EU? You can still be singled out by the richer members for punishment and humiliation. The EU is not a union of equals. There's first class and low caste members. You don't need to tell the Bulgarians which category they belong to in the eyes of Brussels.

It still baffles me that Bulgaria made it into the EU as soon as they did. Really!

Bulgaria and Romania are considerably poorer than any of the 2004 entries into the EU, when countries such as Croatia would have been a better choice to take in in terms of development, corruption levels, human development index, general living standards and other elements looked at by the EU.

These statistics show what I mean in comparison to the rest of Eastern Europe these days:

GDP per capita PPP (IMF):

Slovenia - $28,010
Czech Republic - $24,236
Estonia - $21,800
Poland - $20,487
Slovakia - $20,251
Hungary - $20,000
Lithuania - $19,730
Latvia - $18,103
Croatia - $16,758
Russia - $14,692
Romania - $12,285
Bulgaria - $11,904
Serbia - $10,985
Bosnia - $10,715
Ukraine - $8,624
Belarus - $7,700
Macedonia - $7,645
Albania - $6,649
Montenegro - $3,800
Kosovo - $1,800

Note that Croatia and even Russia rank higher than both Romania and Bulgaria!

Sorry, forgot Moldova.

Moldova - $2,962

Dear Peter as you well know it was a Super -political decision..
It was made for many things including the fact that both Romania and Bulgaria allow NATO planes to fly over their countries in order to bombard Serbia ...

"....because of corruption in this country"

What about Romania? A lucky escape? It is one of the countries who opposes Kosova's independence...))

great post. can we see a link to the statistics?

No offence Peter, bit your comment reminds me of other comments around here with the I don't know how much of the world's GDP recognizing the UDI.
What I can see and feel is that in Romania the GDP growth rate is one of the highest in Europe and against all odds for T1 this year it was an economic growth of 7.5%.
Also there are other aspects like private agriculture for own consumption which is not included in calculations and is dominant in the rural areas and is, unfortunatelly, maybe the only way of preserving most of the local tradition (something that we care about). and we do not border Germany.

Luigi
First, I don't remember if also Bulgaria allowed it.
Second, my guess is that the high profit rates made in Romania by many of the "old" EU countries was more like a decisive factor.
Plus, it was all paid. I will only mention Italy with only 2 examples: around 1.2 bn Euro contracts in construction and 300 mn euro contract for Alenia for military transport airplanes.

Finally, Bulgaria will get it this time for the organized crime, which is totally understandable. Something that we never had around here in high degrees and anyway lower than in most "old" EU countries.

@Adrian
Romania % Bulgaria received a "push" in order to be part of the club ...In the case of Italy it was obvious since economically is a primary partner of both countries and beside there are many other links between us and it was easier for politicians because public opinion was in favour (at that time more than 60% )
But if you think of Turkey ...who was best fit ?
The other problem is what happened since joining the club and is not all kisses and roses...

Sanctions will indeed help Bulgarians, not humiliate them! The vicious link between organized crime, business (keep in mind that 17 years ago Bulgaria's economy was entirely state run, so one wonders where all those huge businessmen came from), politicians, police officials etc... could never be broken without a great pressure from abroad. So Lowe, the ordinary Bulgarins were made second category poeple by "their" self imposed leaders. EU will only help them emancipate themselves and live as true Europeans!
Luigi, you are right. The brave decision of the then democratic government to let NATO planes over Bulgarian sky, made despite of the strong popular opinion against such a move, helped the countrie to end up in NATO and EU.

On 25 May 2008 14:11, lowe wrote:

"The EU is not a union of equals. There's first class and low caste members. You don't need to tell the Bulgarians which category they belong to in the eyes of Brussels."

@lowe - Since I am a tax payer in what you will describe as a "first class member" of the EU club, I am VERY glad to see that the Danish contribution to the EU budget - paid in part by MY TAX MONEY - is not ending up in the pockets of corrupt officials in Bulgaria!

I guess your view is slightly different because it is not YOUR money?

In this case I think only one word applies, and that is: Pay up, or shut up!

Luigi

What could possibly be the super political decisions of taking any of the Western Balkan states (apart from Croatia) in the EU? I only see those countries as a new investment playground, nothing else really.

adrian

No offense taken, they are just statistics off the IMF website, but it just makes me think that Romania and Bulgaria should have probably had done more preperations in order to integrate into the EU, that's all I meant.

Jan Andersen, DK

Why is it that every Albanian with EU citizenship makes such a big deal of it whenever there's an opportunity to do so? It's only citizenship, you know.