Romania worse off upon entering the EU

[Risto the Great]

http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/19720/46/

Upon entering the European Union, Romania has gotten poorer, stated former Romanian Minister of Economy Varujan Vosganian in an interview for daily "Business 24".

- Ever since we entered the EU, we found out that we can not compete with other member states. We also found out that it is a lot worse being poor inside the EU, than outside.

According to Vosganian, Romania with other member states is sitting at a table full of food, however it isn't allowed to reach for any of it.
- I do not see a quick end to the financial crisis in EU and Romania, stated Vosganian in his interview adding he exptects less and less foreign investments in Romania.
The PM of Romania Emil Bok has said his nation was experiencing the most difficult period in the last 60 years.

As part of Romania's austerity measures, the administration slashed their salaries by 25%, while the pensions were cut by 15%.
Over 150,000 governmental jobs were also slashed.

[Risto the Great]

Currency Trader?
Where aren't you?

[julie]

Currency Trader?
Where aren't you?

LOL
probably celebrating the fact that we are now the country with no name

[Risto the Great]

You're right Julie.
It was a major victory for stupidity.

[George S.]

ct the eu is so great look what it's done for romania it's great.How stupid you are just dreaming that the eu is so great.The eu is not a level playing field once a country enters it's fold.Small countries like macedonia would be irrelevant in the scheme of things Also they haven't much to offer to the eu.

[julie]

ct the eu is so great look what it's done for romania it's great.How stupid you are just dreaming that the eu is so great.The eu is not a level playing field once a country enters it's fold.Small countries like macedonia would be irrelevant in the scheme of things Also they haven't much to offer to the eu.

Yes. They have the name to offer and loss of sovereignty

[Risto the Great]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17078958

Hundreds of pounds worth of chewing gum is being stolen from British stores to use as currency in Romania.

Chewing gum and other small packets of sweets are commonly offered instead of small change by shopkeepers according to a police officer who has investigated the thefts.

PC David Walton, of West Mercia Police, said it was a growing problem for supermarkets across the Midlands and North Yorkshire.

On 16 January two Romanian nationals were jailed for stealing £800 worth of chewing gum from stores in Worcester the previous day.

Worcester magistrates ordered Constantin Barbu, 31, and Bogan-Constantin Panait, 23, both from Hounslow in London, to spend seven days in prison after they pleaded guilty to stealing chewing gum from supermarkets.

'I was astounded'
PC Walton said it was a "widespread problem" with the first case he became aware of happening in April 2011.

He said: "The values we are talking about are £340, £700, £420, £318.

"What they do in effect is they go down the aisles and empty the whole box into their trolley.

"They always have a vehicle outside, they never use public transport and they target stores on retail parks because there is less chance of getting blocked in by traffic, like in the town centres."

He said Sainsburys and Asda stores had particularly been targeted in Shropshire along with a Morrison's store. He said he saw no reason why Tesco would be exempt although the chain had not reported any thefts.


The British Retail Consortium is concerned about organised gangs targeting supermarkets
"When we started looking into it the same addresses came up time and time again. They seem to come over for a few weeks and stay with people in London then drive back to Romania with the goods," he said.

Thefts have been reported as far afield as Lincolnshire, Wimbledon, Cambridge and Wiltshire.

Sarah Cordey, spokeswoman for the British Retail Consortium, said the thefts fitted with recent trends they had identified of shoplifting being carried out by "organised criminal gangs".

She said: "It does play into recent trends we've raised that supermarkets are being targeted by more organised criminals often working together.

"It shows retailers are doing a good job at targeting opportunistic thieves stealing the odd item for their own use but there is a hard core left which is often a more serious criminal element.

"Sadly (chewing gum theft) fits into this trend and what's of concern to us is they are more likely to be violent if confronted by staff and are more likely to be responsible for sizable losses because they tend to pre-plan."

Richard Goodchild, who runs the Safer Shrewsbury Pub and Shop Watch Partnership, said at first he thought the problem was just contained to Shropshire.

'Not uncommon'
He said: "I was astounded as I had never come across this before. At first we thought we were the only ones being affected.

"When we raised the issue at the Midlands Retail Crime Partnership forum we felt a bit daft, but when we mentioned it other places said it had happened to them too."

PC Walton and Mr Goodchild are advising stores to reduce the amount of gum they have on display and to heighten their security.

Mr Goodchild said the issue would also be raised at the West Midlands Regional Crime Initiative on Tuesday.

PC Walton said: "There is no market for chewing gum theft in this country, so we are going round making stores aware of it."

Romanian student Ioana Enea, 20, from Moldova, in Eastern Romania, said it was "not uncommon" to receive gum instead of change in her home country.

The digital design student, who is currently studying at the University of Dundee, said: "Bubble gum or other small candies are used as small change but only if the cashier is out of small change and you are asked beforehand if you wish to have a piece of gum instead of currency.


John Bagley said he was surprised to be handed gum as change at a kiosk
"Usually people use large notes to pay for items and shopkeepers, especially in small shops, don't have much small change and that is why they use gum or candy when they run out of it. This is not an uncommon practice."

It can come as a shock to the uninitiated however.

John Bagley is an engineer from Warwick who started working in Romania in 2010.

He said: "I was given chewing gum at the train station in Bucharest.

"It was a bit of a shock at first. I was just buying some water at one of the little kiosks before I got on the train and had handed over some notes and got given some gum instead of bani [the equivalent of pence in sterling]."

The Ratiu Family Charitable Foundation promotes Romanian culture in Britain.

Ramona Patrica, the foundation's director, said Romanians were not obsessed with chewing gum.

"Chewing gum is not a national sport in Romania or anything like that. I had never heard of this before now, although I think it is quite funny and a bit weird," she added.

Oh the success of joining the EU.
Maybe the Greeks could have a new currency like Romania.
But what would they call it?

Instead of Hubba Bubba .... Hubba Yiayia ?

[FriendofMacedonia]

The EU is nothing more that ploy for bigger countries to dominate smaller ones. Countries like Serbia and Macedonia will be utterly irrelevant if they join the EU.

I mean look, the Euro? Any moron could see that a currency based on a German economy can only hurt a non-German economy (especially in countries like Romania and Greece whose economies are so vastly different from the German one.) However, it was never about whats better for the economy and for the people, its about the centralization of power and you can't centralize power without a common currency.

Not to mention we are witnessing an undeniable power shift from West to East. The EU, America, sinking ships. While they're busy racking up debt and printing MORE money(utterly ludicrous) and their economies are going down the shitter, Russia and China are booming and they are experiencing (and have been consistently for the past decade) healthy economic growth.

If our respective governments had any balls/brains, we'd be fostering closer ties with Russia/China. Mark my words, in 10-20 years, they WILL be the top dogs on earth.

[Onur]

I mean look, the Euro? Any moron could see that a currency based on a German economy can only hurt a non-German economy (especially in countries like Romania and Greece whose economies are so vastly different from the German one.)

Thats true. Let alone Greece and Romania, Eurozone even destroyed Italian industry.

You were from Serbia, right? I read that the EU will award Serbia with EU candidacy status this week, after Serbia`s unofficial recognition of Kosovo in the past week;

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jR9RJRG3m_UQhs38ZrWpQPjSUnzw?docId=CNG.7085f8662afad43dcda4140668854d22.f1

If they give free access to Serbians into the western European labor market, i think this might possibly convert Serbia to some kind of deserted ghost town. Even tough i don't like the general Serbian mentality, i hate to see an old nation to disappear. It would be sad.

[FriendofMacedonia]

I wouldn't call awarded lol. I don't think (and hope to God we won't) be awarded with candidate status as several EU states (Angela Mekel herself vetoed Serbian candidate status a few months ago) are against the inclusion of Serbia into EU until we explicitly recognize Kosovo. We basically did do that, but I think they want it to bee official.

Nevertheless, support for the EU has been plummeting among the Serbian people over the past 10 years. Hopefully, the number of supporters will only continueto drop and our "government" will rethink its decision.

[Soldier of Macedon]

It is interesting to compare with Croatia, where most of the people appear to be anti-EU, even though they have a better chance of entering that organisation than both Macedonia or Serbia.

[FriendofMacedonia]

It is interesting to compare with Croatia, where most of the people appear to be anti-EU, even though they have a better chance of entering that organisation than both Macedonia or Serbia.

Croatia has a referendum like a week ago and 66% of people voted in favor of the EU. They are going to officially join in 2013.

[George S.]

romania is definitely worse off than before joining the eu.The romanium govt also borrowed
money from greece.Looks like it's destined to follow greece.

[Voltron]

The EU is nothing more that ploy for bigger countries to dominate smaller ones. Countries like Serbia and Macedonia will be utterly irrelevant if they join the EU.

I mean look, the Euro? Any moron could see that a currency based on a German economy can only hurt a non-German economy (especially in countries like Romania and Greece whose economies are so vastly different from the German one.) However, it was never about whats better for the economy and for the people, its about the centralization of power and you can't centralize power without a common currency.

Not to mention we are witnessing an undeniable power shift from West to East. The EU, America, sinking ships. While they're busy racking up debt and printing MORE money(utterly ludicrous) and their economies are going down the shitter, Russia and China are booming and they are experiencing (and have been consistently for the past decade) healthy economic growth.

If our respective governments had any balls/brains, we'd be fostering closer ties with Russia/China. Mark my words, in 10-20 years, they WILL be the top dogs on earth.

The USA prints money, not the EU. There is a method for EU's madness, they may be stifling growth right now but they are setting up the foundation to prevent getting into a hole Uncle Sam currently is in. Do not count out Europe yet and for those that advocate China, just prey to God that doesnt happen anytime soon.

The Russians still have a way to go to get there.

I wouldn't call awarded lol. I don't think (and hope to God we won't) be awarded with candidate status as several EU states (Angela Mekel herself vetoed Serbian candidate status a few months ago) are against the inclusion of Serbia into EU until we explicitly recognize Kosovo. We basically did do that, but I think they want it to bee official.

Nevertheless, support for the EU has been plummeting among the Serbian people over the past 10 years. Hopefully, the number of supporters will only continueto drop and our "government" will rethink its decision.

Maybe Serbia should officially host a Russian base on their grounds. See if that wakes up the EU a little bit.

[Risto the Great]

The USA prints money, not the EU. There is a method for EU's madness, they may be stifling growth right now but they are setting up the foundation to prevent getting into a hole Uncle Sam currently is in. Do not count out Europe yet and for those that advocate China, just prey to God that doesnt happen anytime soon.

Seriously, I think the EU is simply trying to mimic the USA. The major problem with Europe is the lack of strong labour willing to work for peanuts
like in the developing countries. I see no chance for Europe other than for enjoying some kind of nostalgic throwback in time. Something like visiting the UK except bigger .... a curious place that was once mighty.