European Union -1st of May, Uniting even more people

[Combat Ingrid]

Originally posted by Pekka
No they do count as a minority. If you were a Swede in Finland, you would be minority. Finlands Svenska don't even county. They are so well integrated, they are Finns, only thing is they might have Swedish origin last name but that's it. They are not minority!!11111111

You can relax now, I have to work. I may tease you some more later though

[Pekka]

You can't tease me with this thing... it's pretty set already.

If you want to tease me, why don't you send me your panties?

[Saras]

--"No citizenship rights for the Russian minority, denying the right for the basic education in their mother's language, to name a few."

Do Lithuanians exiled to Siberia have Lithuanian schools? No.

Case closed.

[ErikM]

Insufficient demand.
Maybe cuz Lithuanians exiled to Siberia now speak Russian, as God intended

[Kaak]

does this mean they are going to start using Euros immediately?!

[Chris Wilkinson]

Originally posted by Maniac
There's a thing I've been wondering about for quite a while. On maps of the EU you always see several overseas EU territories like Guyana, Canarias, etcetera. But why are other British and French territories such as the Falkland Islands, French Polynesia, the Kergueles (totally wrong spelling - those islands in the South-Indian Ocean thereabouts) never included? Do they have some special semi-independent status or so?

Off the top of my head places like French Guyana and the Canaries are bascially considered full parts of their respective countries, while places like the Falklands are still 'overseas territories'.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Kaak
does this mean they are going to start using Euros immediately?!

Nope. They'll use Euros at some point in the future, but only once they fit the conditions. I have heard they won't even have a choice, i.e no referendum

[laurentius]

I personally dont think referendums are good for everything, such as deciding whether to join the euro. People make many decisions based on emotions and short sighted without thinking it all through. One reason for this is that the informations is always unsymmetrical, most people dont have the information, education nor the means to decide such things. Therefore things such as joining the euro or not should be left to the experts, economists, private sector and politicians. No elitism here, just pragmatism.

[Kaak]

good good that means things won't be horribly expensive on my trip

[Gangerolf]

Originally posted by Saras
Just outside my office, on Gedimino Prospektas, there's a tent with dishes from every EU and tomorrow-EU country (funny enough, Turkey's there as well... perhaps someone likes kebabs too much?). I ate a Polish "Fliaki" soup, a Viennese Snitzel, Italian icecream. Loads of other good stuff to eat later at night. And 1 l jugs of beer in the German section. Wooohoo!!!

Kind of the same thing in Prague on the 30th, a "European market". Quite bizarre. Each of the 25 countries had its own stall. I got some black Latvian bread and listened to Portuguese folk music.
The Swedes handed out brochures about the Saab Gripen fighter plane. When I asked why, they said "because it's our contribution to Europe"

[Drogue]

Originally posted by The Vagabond
1) New visa barrier.

We need a visa to enter Russia, so I don't see it as wrong that Russian's should require one to enter the EU. As for the specifics of Kaliningrad, I wouldn't know though.

Originally posted by The Vagabond
2) Utter hypocricy in what concerns human rights. Two countries (Latvia and Estonia) have been admitted despite their blatant violation of human rights.

Not allowing public schools to teach in a non-official language is a human rights violation? It's their choice what their public school system teaches, and if they want it to only be taught in the official language, that's their choice.

[Drogue]

Originally posted by Spiffor
Nope. They'll use Euros at some point in the future, but only once they fit the conditions. I have heard they won't even have a choice, i.e no referendum

Isn't it part of joining the EU now, you have to join the Euro? You can't take one without the other. Therefore, there isn't a referendum to have, since the governments don't have a choice either.

[Gangerolf]

Originally posted by Spiffor

Nope. They'll use Euros at some point in the future, but only once they fit the conditions. I have heard they won't even have a choice, i.e no referendum

Yep the new members had to pretty much accept the whole package. But it could take a while (10 years?) before they actually start using the euro.

[ErikM]

Originally posted by Drogue
Not allowing public schools to teach in a non-official language is a human rights violation? It's their choice what their public school system teaches, and if they want it to only be taught in the official language, that's their choice.

We are talking about a language ~50% of the population speak, though. Not making it an official language - or, who cares about the actual terms, a language with some sort of status - is clearly a discrimination.

[Gangerolf]

Well you need to take a look at how so many Russians ended up in the Baltic countries. It's not a pretty story.