Who EU left behind

[VetLegion]

Yours truly, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Macedonia, Albania.


And we were supposed to enter EU at least twice before, first time when Yugoslavia was invited as a whole (but wanted to stay Nonaligned) and second time when it broke apart, and it was expected we will join EU in a matter of years.


Now its matter of decades.


Over ten years after the breakup of commie block we still havent joined. Other countries which were far behind us in all aspects, economic, social, everything, have now surpased us.


Now for the horror part. Croatia plans to submit the official application to become a member sometime in 2003. During Greek presidency of EU Given that Greeks enthusiasitcaly supported the Serbs in the latest war(s), we expect a sabotage.


Croatia is trying to somehow get in as soon as possible, not waiting for the other countries in the region. EU is forcing 'regional integration' with Bosnia, Serbia etc before they take us in as a package.


They could at least have given us Euro 2008 to compensate




We want something dammit!

Or else we will join NAFTA together with Turkey

[Dauphin]

Join EFTA with the Swiss and Norwegians.

[Bereta_Eder]

We love you all Vetty Expect the warmest of reception of your EU application during the Greek presidency

[Bereta_Eder]

BTW Bulgaria Romania in 2007.

[Dauphin]

Italy is up after Greece. Maybe you'll have more luck with them

[Bereta_Eder]

Seing as Berlusconi has been pissing all over Croatia since he came to term, I doubt it.

Seriously though, why would anyone care?

But you're propably getting in together with Serbia ("package" solution) unless something changes IMHO.

[Dauphin]

Ireland, for sure then.

Whose next after that? Netherlands? Then Portugal?

Who do you fancy helping you Vet, and how long can you wait..

[Bereta_Eder]

We can allow Albania in right now BTW.

The whole country's population is already in Greece and Italy.

[MarkG]

not sure about the exact situation of the 10 new countries(except Cyprus), but arent the countries you mentioned in a TERRIBLE economic situation after the wars? and isnt currently a huge instability in Serbia and Montenegro with their elections?

if this was a "lets troll the greeks" thread, congrats

[Bereta_Eder]

That's why you shouldn't do wars

Look at us. We're selling our copyrighted feta to Israel.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Ah we will probably go together with teh Turks (never) unless Germans and Austrians do something :shrugs:

[VetLegion]

Who do you fancy helping you Vet, and how long can you wait

Italy and Austria are our biggest supporters now

and so will be Slovenia, which doesnt want to be a border state in EU.

Man are they going to show off with the membership

btw. Jorg Haider also supports us. With friends like that...

Further north things are not so good, culminating in Britain I believe who seem openly hostile (insisting on the hague etc)
Greece OTOH is friendly on the face but when we find a knife in the back we will know where it came from

How long can we wait? I dont know. We are like that guy in every class who had great potential but did too much drugs ... we blame it on society (but we can change, we can change... )

not sure about the exact situation of the 10 new countries(except Cyprus), but arent the countries you mentioned in a TERRIBLE economic situation after the wars?

economy isnt even the issue here.

yes it is pretty bad. But not worse then Bulgaria and Romania for sure. I m lazy to check the exact figures but I think Croatia has larger per capita GDP then both

the issues they want us to work on is general democratization, minority rights and hague cooperation, which is alltogether bollocks

and isnt currently a huge instability in Serbia and Montenegro with their elections?

yes, serbs fail to elect a president in two attempts

[VetLegion]

We love you all Vetty Expect the warmest of reception of your EU application during the Greek presidency

We can allow Albania in right now BTW.

The whole country's population is already in Greece and Italy.

also they have virtually no heavy industry and they have very developed human services industry and trade in certain goods.. they are ready for the new economy

[Pekka]

I know way too little about these countries and their relations to others, but I think they are very unstable and have lots of problems.. I'd like to see them in EU though, but that should not mean EU has to (meaning mostly me, I'm selfish bastard ) pay loads of money only to see little developing of these areas.
EU is not something to be pushed and poked around, or indeed it's not something that can be demanded to do anything.

The bigger EU gets, more problems. Bigger EU gets, we once again get to be the smallest country and power over EU diminishes with every new member. So when I look at it,, well it's not good. So, the way I see it, when country joins in, it should be able to give something in able to receieve. Two way relationship. But if country is doing ok, or at least is going to the right direction, then sure.. but everytime new country with not so wealthy country joins, it means less money for me, and as I'm broke already.. well I don't necessarily jump in joy .

[Pekka]

On the other hand, if we could establish genuinely warm relations, make EU close and tight and truly open borders and make it a real union.. then it should be good. I don't believe this is true even with in the present members. I'm afraid some day EU gets too big and all it's good for is fighting each other and nothing gets done, but blaming and shouting and vetoing others.
Let's get good things going on, and let's get all in so that EU countries survives economically wealthy, so they don't have to suffer when new ones join.. it could be a good thing! By this time we would need that army fast, and I can see it being very powerful and good, but that takes time too, so it can blend in and make the new system working.