On the 1st May Latvia marked 5 year anniversary since joining the European Union. A lot of celebration events will take place in May. But while people are smiling in the photographs from the 1st May celebration it may seem that everybody is happy about the EU, on the contrary the largest newspaper Diena poll tells us how Latvians actually feel about the EU.
Estonia has won significantly since we joined. Some figures: average income was 7417 (2004), now it is 13382 EEK; gdp was 151 billion, now it is 248 billion EEK. Export has increased from 5,6 billion to 7,8 billion. Any similar comparisons made recently in Latvia?
ReplyDeleteAnd, what do you think yourself, did Latvia win or lose by the decision? What are the feelings about euro?
I think the EU gives a lot of opportunities, but there are way too many people who don't know how to use them. They close factories because the EU offers them compensation money, they sell their boats because the EU pays them for that...It's upside down thinking from those people. No doubt that the EU is complicated and I believe it was created for some greater nations for pure economical reasons.
ReplyDeleteEuro is a strong currency, I would like to have at the earliest possible time, but it's unrealistic, because we are in such a bad recession now.