Congratulations, E.U.
Rejoicing, from one end of Europe to the other.
The European Union has swelled to include in its ambitious plan for unity - social, political and economic uniformity - 24 countries representing 400 million people. This vast embrace has led to the total relaxation of borders. Already thousands of people from less advanced economies like those of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have migrated to countries like Britain and Ireland whose employment markets have been opened to workers from new EU member-countries.
No longer are there barbed-wire, machine-gun protected borders in an eastern Europe dominated by the hegemonic strictures of the Soviet Union. Vladimir Putin must be near apoplectic from time to time, recalling the great power that was once the U.S.S.R., and what Russia has since been reduced to, in territory, resources and political clout - while her former satellites and allies have now gone over to the Cold War-era "enemy".
People are now free to walk, bicycle, drive, fly across borders that once divided the Soviet bloc from the West. Fireworks brightened the sky as people cheered and music - Beethoven's Ode to Joy, the EU's anthem - was played in celebration as the European Union's expansion became reality. No one, at the present time, yet mentions Turkey's long wait for acceptance.
The latest expansion took in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. There are both high expectations and low anticipations; that tourism and business will expand, encouraging economic growth on the one hand, while the potential for illegal immigration and a rise in crime may also be in the offing.
The very fact that so many countries with, it might seem, so little in common but their economic advancement - the determined surge of the strong pulling the weak into better economic health, recognizing the utility of forming a collective canopy of legislation, social and political - speaks practical volumes. As well as producing a unified front where strength of numbers reflects greater clout in the world economy.
That ease of travel will assist people in advancing their careers is a positive; that that same ease of surmounting other barriers will allow people to appreciate their differences in culture and traditions leading to greater acceptance and respect can only be a good thing in the larger world order.
Only time will tell if this is the mechanism through which countries can finally learn to live together in peace and prosperity, and whether this unifying device can be translated into transformative, emulative action elsewhere on this planet.
The European Union has swelled to include in its ambitious plan for unity - social, political and economic uniformity - 24 countries representing 400 million people. This vast embrace has led to the total relaxation of borders. Already thousands of people from less advanced economies like those of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have migrated to countries like Britain and Ireland whose employment markets have been opened to workers from new EU member-countries.
No longer are there barbed-wire, machine-gun protected borders in an eastern Europe dominated by the hegemonic strictures of the Soviet Union. Vladimir Putin must be near apoplectic from time to time, recalling the great power that was once the U.S.S.R., and what Russia has since been reduced to, in territory, resources and political clout - while her former satellites and allies have now gone over to the Cold War-era "enemy".
People are now free to walk, bicycle, drive, fly across borders that once divided the Soviet bloc from the West. Fireworks brightened the sky as people cheered and music - Beethoven's Ode to Joy, the EU's anthem - was played in celebration as the European Union's expansion became reality. No one, at the present time, yet mentions Turkey's long wait for acceptance.
The latest expansion took in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. There are both high expectations and low anticipations; that tourism and business will expand, encouraging economic growth on the one hand, while the potential for illegal immigration and a rise in crime may also be in the offing.
The very fact that so many countries with, it might seem, so little in common but their economic advancement - the determined surge of the strong pulling the weak into better economic health, recognizing the utility of forming a collective canopy of legislation, social and political - speaks practical volumes. As well as producing a unified front where strength of numbers reflects greater clout in the world economy.
That ease of travel will assist people in advancing their careers is a positive; that that same ease of surmounting other barriers will allow people to appreciate their differences in culture and traditions leading to greater acceptance and respect can only be a good thing in the larger world order.
Only time will tell if this is the mechanism through which countries can finally learn to live together in peace and prosperity, and whether this unifying device can be translated into transformative, emulative action elsewhere on this planet.
Labels: Politics of Convenience, World News
posted by Pieface | 5:59 PM
1 Comments:
Naturally, there are worries about crime, but for most people (who lived behind the Iron Curtain) the opening of the internal borders is a festive occasion on their return journey to Europe.
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