Posted on 12/10/2001 8:31:49 AM PST by vooch
Slovenia accepts EU ban on post-entry labour movement
LJUBLJANA, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Slovenia said on Friday it would accept the European Union's proposed temporary ban on the free movement of workers from new member states, closing another chapter ahead of its planned entry to the bloc in 2004.
The EU had said it would restrict labour movement from candidate countries for up to seven years after accession but Slovenia had asked for an exemption, arguing its two million citizens would not seek work in the EU countries.
"We concluded that negotiations on this issue were exhausted and further negotiations would only make us lose the understanding that we have had so far from the EU," Janez Potocnik, head of Slovenia's negotiating delegation, told Reuters.
Potocnik said the ban was not likely to have any consequences on Slovenia, adding Poland and Estonia are the only candidate countries which have yet to accept it.
He added by accepting the ban on labour movement, Slovenia could close the negotiating chapter on free movement of persons, bringing the number of chapters which could be closed by the end of the year to 26 out of 29.
This was in line with the EU's accession road map and left three chapters open -- those with financial consequences.
11:37 12-07-01
I am still strying to fathom what advantage EU membership has for Slovenia......Slovenia already has essentially free access to Euro markets, so why burden the industrious Slovenian people with all the socialist baggage of Brussels Eurocrats ?
IMHO, when the financial 'negotiations' are finished, Slovenes will discover that EU membership will cost them money. EU applicants like Poland & Hungary will be net recipiants of EU funds, while Slovenia will be a net contributor.
Yes Slovenian is doing moderately well. But I wonder why Slovenian factory workers should be paying taxes so Brussels can subsidise French & German farmers.
I also wonder why Slovenian after fighting so hard to break away from the decentralized SFRY in which it had veto power over every significant decision......is now pushing so hard to be ruled by Brussels Eurocrats.......in the EU Slovenia will have a tiny voice and have little or no influence over EU rules and regulations.
Why abandon such hard won independence ?
But I really wonder, why you'r so anti-EU, and why you actually care about us so much.
Are you afraid that the EU with the enlargment (with many other European countries that will follow) will be a hard competitor to the USA? Strong EU not good for the USA? Haha :)
Good question, indeed, Vooch. Ahhh, the folly of human nature. Wouldn't surprise me if in a generation or so, after getting sick of being ordered around by Brussels, Slovenians would begin clamoring for a more localized federation (...say, something akin to a new Yugoslavia). The pendulum just keeps swinging, I guess.
Ensuring a stable political and economical environment, bigger market access with more possibilites as opposed to being outside the EU, new development possibilities, competition on the internal market which will motivate and stimulate slovenian companies to do even better, much better access to capital, technology, knowledge, new educational and job possibilites (free flow of labor and capital), increase in business with other EU countries.
Ebough of reasons that will evetually lead many other countries to join as well, Serbia included.
Or don't you think so Vooch? :)
bigger market access with more possibilites as opposed to being outside the EU
simply not true, current tariff and quota levels for Slovenian products in the EU are nil. Going from nil to zero tariff rate hardly matters.
new development possibilities,
Not quite clear what you mean here please elaborate
competition on the internal market which will motivate and stimulate slovenian companies to do even better,
global competition happens with or without the Eurocrats. In fact one could make the argument that beig outside the EU helps ' motivate and stimulate slovenian companies to do even better'
much better access to capital,
true, but the last thing Slovenes need now is to wack up their foreign debt levels any more. Per capita foreign debt of Slovenia is $3,350 while Serbia's is only $900
technology, knowledge,
not sure how you mean the EU helps in this way
new educational and job possibilites (free flow of labor and capital)
wrong, as the Slovenian leadership has caved in to the Eurocrats..... there will be NO free movement of labor for Slovenia in the EU
increase in business with other EU countries
.......at the expense of trade with the rest of the world. In addition, it is difficult to make the case that Slovenia will have greater trade under the Eurocrat rules than it woudl otherwise have. Besides, Slovenia's greatest growth market for exports is NOT with EU states, rather Slovenia's export markets are growing in Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, and other non-EU states.
If export driven growth is the objective, than Slovenia would be good to join the CIS or a Balkan Federation not the EU.
Finally, one should note that Bluester's list of benefits to join the EU fails to address the reason current EU states are excited to have Eastern European states join
Having weak economic competitors join the EU will be a business bonanza for German, French, and Italy exporters. They will be able to crush their weak counterparts in the new member states and then have 75-100 million captive new customers
sure, comparative advantage will take place. Germans will make and sell cars. Slovenes will make and sell cheap clothes........and guess who will have a higher living standard.
Singapore, Hong Kong, Tawain, Chile, and Japan did not become RICH by joining a intrusive bureaucratic trading bloc. They became RICH by not taking on foreign debt, by limiting imported consumer goods, the model isn't pure IMF globalism as is currently preached...........but it works
Slovenian by joining the EU will forever doom itself to lagging behind the Germans, Italians, French, and English. I firmly believe that if Slovenes were allowed to unleash their latent technical & merchantile spirit, Slovenes would surpass German living standards within a a generation.
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