Posted on 04/30/2005 12:17:33 PM PDT by lizol
Newcomers Reflect on a Year in the EU By ANDREA DUDIKOVA, Associated Press Writer
ZAHORSKA VES, Slovakia - Day in and out, Frantisek Danihel steers his ferry back and forth over the slow-moving Morava River, linking what were two separate worlds only a year ago — the European Union and its aspiring members.
On a formal level, the barriers dissolved on May 1, 2004, when Slovakia and nine other mostly former communist nations joined what they had long viewed as an exclusive Western club. Yet opinions are mixed among EU newcomers about how much they have gained from membership and what's in store for the future.
Danihel says he still feels like an outsider even though Austria is only 50 yards away on the other side of the brown waters of the Morava. The barbed wire and grim-faced border guards separating the two countries are history, but less tangible barriers stand in his way.
"I hardly go to Austria," said the gray-haired 60-year-old, who has piloted the ferry for the last three years. "What for? To see how well off they are?"
But others in new EU countries are eagerly taking advantage of new opportunities.
"Estonia is now part of an open market," said Estonian software entrepreneur Villem Alango. "We certainly have better business opportunities as there is less direct bureaucracy."
Roads in Austria, which borders the former Soviet satellites of Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, are crowded with holidaymakers in late model BMWs and Mercedes striking out to discover the new Europe without borders.
While still below top salaries in Austria, Germany and other more established EU member nations, wages in the former communist EU members are moving upward. A manager working for a Western company can earn about $4,500 a month.
And economies are booming in the new EU countries. A United Nations report published this year said the "EU-8" — the eastern European countries that joined last May — will continue to outperform the 15 Western nations that made up the old EU.
While GDP growth in western Europe overall will likely drop to 2 percent annually, the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe said the economies of the EU-8 — the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia — are predicted to grow 4.6 percent. In addition to those nations, Cyprus and Malta also joined the EU last year.
Surrounded by his scenic vineyards in the southeastern Czech city of Mikulov, Petr Marcincak lauds the end of trade barriers that made it "almost impossible to export our wines to EU countries before we joined."
"Now, the market is open for us and I expect the situation to get better," said the wine maker, who currently exports 25 percent of his top wines to Spain, France and the Netherlands.
Slovene air-conditioning technician Denis Kuzma says EU membership has reduced his administrative headaches.
"Before Slovene membership in the EU we had a lot of paper work on customs administration," Kuzma said. "Now it's very simple. No paper work at all."
But that's only part of the new Europe. Even young people with time to wait for the promise of a better life are frustrated with present realities.
"My disposable income has not increased a single cent, but many products now cost more," said Aurimas Sirvinskas, a 27-year old Lithuanian medical student. "I did not expect sudden and good changes, but now it seems a better life is still far away."
Worst off are the millions from former communist countries living in villages outside the major cities.
Whether in Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic or the Baltic nations, the most backward communities are in the east, farthest from the prosperous countries of the old European Union. There, horse drawn carts are still a common sight, as are outhouses and other remnants of the past era.
Even in Zahorska Ves, a community of 1,608 people that is Slovakia's most western village, life is hard on wages reminiscent of the Communist east.
Danihel, the ferryman, earns about 12,000 koruna a month, or just under $400. Bread costs about 7 cents a loaf, but gasoline runs $4.60 a gallon and a pound of pork $2.20. Luxury goods are totally out of reach — a small BMW sedan goes for $35,970 in Bratislava, the Slovak capital some 25 miles to the northwest.
"Everyone thought that after joining the EU, we'll have a better life. But it is worse," Danihel said. "I won't live long enough to enjoy it."
I would think joining the EU is about like Canada signing onto Kyoto, So far it has cost them 10 billion dollars and thats just for this year. For what? What do they get out of it? Cleaner air? No Just the right to pay someone else because its dirty.
PING
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