Rehn: Don't apply for membership yet

Serbia will never be a modern European economy if she remains outside the EU.

"Serbia will never be a modern European economy if she remains outside the EU.
(Mircea, 9 February 2009 20:28)"

Mircea,

You really start to sound like an old record that is played over and over and over again and frankly it is getting very boring. This is meant to be free advice and I am so polite to suggest to stop advocating Serbia's EU membership while you do not give one bit about it. In fact, you are actually advocating for Serbia not to be an EU member. So do a lot of readers and yourself a favor and try to be a more constructive contributor to this site by providing constructive comments to other more important topics. If you mean with modern economy mainly high-tech then Serbia itself cannot compete with the EU and other world power houses. That is not because Serbia does not have creative or talented people. Many foreign companies may have offices in Serbia for high-tech work, but the profits may not be reinvested in Serbia for growth. Of course Serbia cannot live on exporting football players or world-class tennis and other sports athletes. Serbia can keep focusing on manufacturing, tourism (although that is dangerous in an economic crisis) and agriculture. But that is not much different from a modern country like France, although France is of course bigger and has a larger population and is world-wide better known. Please enlighten us with you mean with a modern European economy. Countries in Western Europe had a big advantage over countries in Eastern Europe and it will still take many years before certain countries reach a certain level. At least Serbia has lots of potential and it can still grow and develop outside of the EU. Serbia has to figure out what is the best for it and its people and they are independent enough to make a good and balanced choice and nothing that you or anybody else can do about that.

Serbia will never be a modern European economy if she remains outside the EU.
(Mircea, 9 February 2009 20:28

Here you go again. You sound like a broken record.

We know, we know you love EU that much. You positively worship this corrupt organization. Is EU your heaven on earth?

Your country is in EU. Good for you. Romania must be so rich and prosperous that you just don't know what to do with the emigrants any more.

Pertaining to EU application. I thought Serbia has to pass a Restitution Law before they can apply for EU status. Is this true. If so, do you have any knowledge as to the time frame for this to happen?

Serbia will never be a modern European economy if she remains outside the EU.
(Mircea, 9 February 2009 20:28)

i understand why u have the need to send bitter comments. We have to remember for some eastern europeans the former yugoslavia was just like America to them. It's their time to shine, right mircea. To me they seem more like western satellites or pawns what ever they are they have little soverignty over their future. Just wait for the lisbon treay ;)

Serbia should have a dynamic economy pump more investments from the east (India, China, Russia, japan) while maintaning the path towards the EU. The country should work on its intellectual property more and higher exports to developing countries outside Europe. The current government is doing a fair job of this but much more should be done to raise revenue from other countries. Once Serbia gets visa liberalisation taken care of and becomes a candidate to the EU i think it should take it slow from there on.

"Serbia will never be a modern European economy if she remains outside the EU."

Spoken only by the truly ignorant, of Serbia's economy and of the EU.

Unlike Ro or Bg??? LOL! Hmm, which states have had their structural funds from EU slashed because they have totally failed to do anything about their corruption? No prizes for the answer.

And where is the actual implementation of the laws against corruption in these two new member states?

It goes to show that if you lie and have the backing of the right powerful EU member states, you can join. Rules or no rules.

Peggy,

The EU is helping the countries of Central and Eastern Europe to achieve economic well-being.

I think the EU can also help the countries of the Western Balkans to develop from an economic point of view.

This is why I believe that all the countries of the Western Balkans (including Serbia) should join the EU.

In other words, apply after recognizing Kosova (and of course, Hague cooperation)!

None has ever said to Kosova not to apply in any organization, so at least we're one step ahead :). many other countries will recognize Kosova and we'll have enough votes to enter UN, OSCE and other organizations! It's not that we want so badly to join these organizations, but hey, it's a HAVE TO DO thing! Otherwise we'll end up just like you, Serbia, alone, with 2-3 friends in the World Stage!

At least currently we have many friends, be them temporary or permanent! And a country that has come out of a war will need a lot of help from the outside, so everything that comes in goodwill, will be appreciated by our side!

Mircea,

Please check out the following link.

http://www.cafebabel.com/eng/article/19644/romania-a-wealth-of-poverty.html

I can assure you that the average and ignorant Western European person has no interest to see their tax money go to former Eastern European countries. In fact, in most Western European countries people are sick and tired of all those immigrant workers from the former East Block countries. In their minds their arrival has been followed by an increase in crime. The economic crisis also it not helpful towards tolerance and dumping more euros in bottomless pits. Finally, remember the movie "Borat" where the scenes in Borat's home village were actually shot in Romania (and not Kazakhstan). A wonderful example about a modern EU economy. Of course this does not say anything about the people in that village (I am sure most of them are very friendly and probably more happy, relaxed, and balanced than people in any city or people from "modern" economies). What does matter is that the same average and ignorant Western European person I mentioned before does not look at that and says "Wow, that is terrible. We should send money and make their lives better". No, they will most likely say "This is disgusting. It is an outrage that that country is part of the EU". Sad but true. Of course there are many countries in the EU where people live like that and I doubt that their lives will change any time soon (the same goes for countries like China and India, where large groups of people will not benefit from the economic growth and where the governments do not put much effort to change that).

Serbia will never be a modern European economy if she remains outside the EU.

Serbia will never be a modern European economy if she remains outside the EU.
(Mircea, 9 February 2009 20:28

Here you go again. You sound like a broken record.

We know, we know you love EU that much. You positively worship this corrupt organization. Is EU your heaven on earth?

Your country is in EU. Good for you. Romania must be so rich and prosperous that you just don't know what to do with the emigrants any more.

Peggy,

The EU is helping the countries of Central and Eastern Europe to achieve economic well-being.

I think the EU can also help the countries of the Western Balkans to develop from an economic point of view.

This is why I believe that all the countries of the Western Balkans (including Serbia) should join the EU.

"Serbia will never be a modern European economy if she remains outside the EU.
(Mircea, 9 February 2009 20:28)"

Mircea,

You really start to sound like an old record that is played over and over and over again and frankly it is getting very boring. This is meant to be free advice and I am so polite to suggest to stop advocating Serbia's EU membership while you do not give one bit about it. In fact, you are actually advocating for Serbia not to be an EU member. So do a lot of readers and yourself a favor and try to be a more constructive contributor to this site by providing constructive comments to other more important topics. If you mean with modern economy mainly high-tech then Serbia itself cannot compete with the EU and other world power houses. That is not because Serbia does not have creative or talented people. Many foreign companies may have offices in Serbia for high-tech work, but the profits may not be reinvested in Serbia for growth. Of course Serbia cannot live on exporting football players or world-class tennis and other sports athletes. Serbia can keep focusing on manufacturing, tourism (although that is dangerous in an economic crisis) and agriculture. But that is not much different from a modern country like France, although France is of course bigger and has a larger population and is world-wide better known. Please enlighten us with you mean with a modern European economy. Countries in Western Europe had a big advantage over countries in Eastern Europe and it will still take many years before certain countries reach a certain level. At least Serbia has lots of potential and it can still grow and develop outside of the EU. Serbia has to figure out what is the best for it and its people and they are independent enough to make a good and balanced choice and nothing that you or anybody else can do about that.

Mircea,

Please check out the following link.

http://www.cafebabel.com/eng/article/19644/romania-a-wealth-of-poverty.html

I can assure you that the average and ignorant Western European person has no interest to see their tax money go to former Eastern European countries. In fact, in most Western European countries people are sick and tired of all those immigrant workers from the former East Block countries. In their minds their arrival has been followed by an increase in crime. The economic crisis also it not helpful towards tolerance and dumping more euros in bottomless pits. Finally, remember the movie "Borat" where the scenes in Borat's home village were actually shot in Romania (and not Kazakhstan). A wonderful example about a modern EU economy. Of course this does not say anything about the people in that village (I am sure most of them are very friendly and probably more happy, relaxed, and balanced than people in any city or people from "modern" economies). What does matter is that the same average and ignorant Western European person I mentioned before does not look at that and says "Wow, that is terrible. We should send money and make their lives better". No, they will most likely say "This is disgusting. It is an outrage that that country is part of the EU". Sad but true. Of course there are many countries in the EU where people live like that and I doubt that their lives will change any time soon (the same goes for countries like China and India, where large groups of people will not benefit from the economic growth and where the governments do not put much effort to change that).

Pertaining to EU application. I thought Serbia has to pass a Restitution Law before they can apply for EU status. Is this true. If so, do you have any knowledge as to the time frame for this to happen?

In other words, apply after recognizing Kosova (and of course, Hague cooperation)!

None has ever said to Kosova not to apply in any organization, so at least we're one step ahead :). many other countries will recognize Kosova and we'll have enough votes to enter UN, OSCE and other organizations! It's not that we want so badly to join these organizations, but hey, it's a HAVE TO DO thing! Otherwise we'll end up just like you, Serbia, alone, with 2-3 friends in the World Stage!

At least currently we have many friends, be them temporary or permanent! And a country that has come out of a war will need a lot of help from the outside, so everything that comes in goodwill, will be appreciated by our side!

Serbia will never be a modern European economy if she remains outside the EU.
(Mircea, 9 February 2009 20:28)

i understand why u have the need to send bitter comments. We have to remember for some eastern europeans the former yugoslavia was just like America to them. It's their time to shine, right mircea. To me they seem more like western satellites or pawns what ever they are they have little soverignty over their future. Just wait for the lisbon treay ;)

Serbia should have a dynamic economy pump more investments from the east (India, China, Russia, japan) while maintaning the path towards the EU. The country should work on its intellectual property more and higher exports to developing countries outside Europe. The current government is doing a fair job of this but much more should be done to raise revenue from other countries. Once Serbia gets visa liberalisation taken care of and becomes a candidate to the EU i think it should take it slow from there on.

"Serbia will never be a modern European economy if she remains outside the EU."

Spoken only by the truly ignorant, of Serbia's economy and of the EU.

Unlike Ro or Bg??? LOL! Hmm, which states have had their structural funds from EU slashed because they have totally failed to do anything about their corruption? No prizes for the answer.

And where is the actual implementation of the laws against corruption in these two new member states?

It goes to show that if you lie and have the backing of the right powerful EU member states, you can join. Rules or no rules.