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    Vent’anni dopo: l’adesione all’UE ha reso i nuovi membri più ricchi?

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    3. Adorable-Database187 on

      >Economist Basile Grassi of Bocconi University finds that accession lifts incomes in new member states without denting those of incumbents. In his words, EU expansion looks rather like a positive-sum game.

      Suck on that Putin/trump/Xi!

    4. Ofurnic8tor69 on

      I think it did. Some problems persist of course, but overall we are richer, even when we were poorer (Portuguese speaking ahaha). I guess not anymore 😎

      Tho, I’m not so sure about French people and Greeks 😂

      And Germans are still the richest.

      In recent years, I think Croatia and Romania are also doing well. Poland too.

      But also it kinda depends if they use euro currency or not. But still, overall, we are richer.

    7. Apprehensive-Fig5774 on

      Not sure, cheap debt made possible by Germany made us lazy.

    10. dustofdeath on

      Take the poorest EU country and put them next to any other post soviet region.

      The difference is huge. Some of them haven’t gotten beyond 90s.

    13. marco_altieri on

      Even though Italy keeps complaining about it, it is thanks to the Euro that our economy has not spiralled down (yet).

    16. sechsterangriff on

      Just look at the countries from the former soviet block who joined the EU and compare them with those that did not.
      Don’t ever let anyone tell you that any of our countries (even the ones with larger economies) would have been in a better position by themselves without the EU.

    17. Ice_Tower6811 on

      There are some negatives for sure, but if you focus on them you are either blind, have unreasonablely biased priorities, or have an agenda. Especially for smaller nations.

    18. TheBigOof96 on

      It did absolute miracles to Lithuania, couldn’t be prouder of the progress that EU brought us!

    19. COM_DG_BEER on

      For Finland it’s a bit complicated. Sure it seems that joining EU coincided with some great development at the start at least.

      However, we have soon been 20 years without growth. Partly due to an Euro interest rate that is has been set for the German economy, and too high for the Finnish one. Finnish households have variable mortgage rates so the high interest rate hurts consumer spending particularly hard. The labour markets are also inflexible so exports are lower than what they would have been normally with our own currency. Finally, when you factor in that Finland already was quite well connected internationally, exported a lot outside Europe, and had developed institutions even before joining, the total effect is unknown. Yet, Finland keeps being a net financier of EU, even if the economy of other countries receiving those funds enjoy significantly better economies. Therefore, the biggest benefit might be cultural rather than economic.

      Still, it was good that we joined.

    21. Aeon_Return on

      For Czech absolutely 100%. CZ in the 90s had a lot of crime, widespread poverty, and poor (or worse) infrastructure. Everyone was just totally broke and trying to find any way to leave. Fast forward to now and there’s a citywide campaign in Prague trying to educate people to use leftovers and cut down on food waste and we have organic pet food stores (IMHO a sure and clear sign of a population with free money to spend!) We’re also extremely safe and have become a hub for immigration instead of *emigration*.

    22. sharkism on

      I agree with the sentiment, but man these dump as shit economy articles need to stop. (arbitrary number goes up => great) It is not that simple.

    23. glootech on

      I’m from Poland. I was recently talking to a few people from Belgium and USA and told them that if you weren’t there, you won’t be able to believe how much of a difference it had made. We were slowly trying to make up for decades of communism, and then once we’ve joined the EU it was like we were travelling full speed on a highway.

      Thanks for letting us in guys, we’re doing our best to prove ourselves worthy.

    24. tremblt_ on

      My dad was traveling around the former soviet aligned countries of Europe in the 80s and 90s for his job. He visited a few of them again (after they joined the EU) around 2016-2019 and said that he couldn’t believe how much they had improved in such a short period amount of time.

      He then went to Belarus, Bosnia and North Macedonia and just said „Yep, nothing changed here. Just looks like 30+ years ago“ – and economic data supports this claim. While people from countries like Poland, Czechia and Estonia are increasingly driving Mercedes cars, people in Belarus are selling cheap plastic goods on the street corners to get a bit of money so they don’t starve. It’s really sad honestly.

    25. bindermichi on

      You won’t find a single country that’s not better off economically after joining the EU.

    28. batinyzapatillas on

      And the older ones too. At least if they are Germany or France.

    30. ggblah on

      Just look at Croatian and Serbian path after ex yugoslavia split and war. Croatia had this weird luck where even right wing ruling party which is more corrupt was also more EU oriented so our path was always towards EU and that was a driver behind pretty much every positive change in last 30 years.

      Unfortunately EU is becoming increasingly bureaucratic and inneficient so it’s not as easy for developed countries to continue development in these modern conditions.

    32. wgszpieg on

      Yes, it transformed Poland from a post-soviet shithole to a fairly wealthy country with good infrastructure and a respectable standard of living. There’s problems, sure, but comparable to the rest of the west.

    33. IStoneI42 on

      why do you think putin lost his shit and invaded ukraine?

      all those countries next to russia realized how much better those ex soviet states in the EU did than those who remained in the russian sphere of influence.

      this lead to ukraine moving closer to the EU and away from russia. putin felt the grasp on his empire slipping so he did what russians always do in those cases. rule through, force and intimidation.

      he sent his little green men into east ukraine and crimea to start a war and then annex the peninsula in 2014 and then came to the “rescue” of his private army with the full scale invasion.

    34. Inevitable-Debt4312 on

      The Irish GDP per capita went up 3.5 times. It was nothing but good for Ireland.

    36. Sure-Current-3267 on

      Has the membership in the largest free trade area, peaceful neighbours, global trade agreements, protection of democratic structures and rule of law AND billions of German subsidies made a country richer? Well, that’s a puzzle. 

    37. Developer2022 on

      Like some others here, I’m also from Poland. I just want to say thank you: the difference is huge, and most people wouldn’t believe how much our country has changed.
      But the work doesn’t end here. Let’s keep working together to strengthen cooperation across EU countries and support the smaller ones that are still struggling.
      We have to stick together, otherwise, the big bear from the East will tear us apart, piece by piece.

      Also, I know there are some crazy people in the Sejm (Poland’s parliament) spreading fear about Germany or the EU.
      I’ll say this: I’ve never been the kind of guy to walk around with banners and protest.
      But if anyone ever tried to actually put those ideas into action, I’d be out there protesting with everything I’ve got.

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