New year, new Europe

By David Browne l eTN Europe
The New year has ushered in two significant events in the European Union– Bulgaria and Romania have become the newest members of the bloc, and Slovenia has adopted the euro as its national currency. Bulgaria and Romania were once part of the Communist bloc dominated by Russia and their joining the EU is a milestone both in their transition to western market-style economies and in the process of eastward enlargement of the EU. Together they add more than 30 million to the population of the European Union, bringing it to about 490 million.

The borders of the new 27-member European Union run from the Atlantic Ocean in the west, the Baltic Sea in the North to the Black Sea in the south-east. Within those borders there is relatively free movement of workers, capital and services. This is good news for investors in property and tourism as both countries have great potential for development on the Black Sea coast and in rural areas.

The city of Sibiu in the Transylvania region of Romania is the 2007 European capital of culture, jointly with Luxembourg, and events throughout the year will be a showcase of culture and heritage that is largely unknown outside south-east Europe.

Both countries are poor, relative to their larger EU sister nations such as Germany, France and Great Britain, and are going to benefit from an inward flow of EU funds. Both countries are in urgent need of new employment opportunities and until those develop, there are fears that thousands of workers will move to the richer states in search of jobs, in much the same way as Polish migrants have been streaming into Britain since Poland joined the EU in 2004.
Slovenia, a former constituent of Yugoslavia, has made a success of its membership of the EU and the conversion of its national currency the tollar to the euro was marked at midnight on January 1st by government ministers making the first symbolic withdrawals of euro banknotes from ATM cash machines in the capital, Ljubljana. Slovenia is the first of the 2004 EU joiners to adopt the European currency.
The two currencies will be in circulation together for a transition period of only two weeks. Goods in shops have been labeled with prices in the two currencies for the past six months, and Slovenia's citizens are determined that a change of currency should not hide a rounding-up of prices.
Slovenia is a small Alpine nation bordering Austria and Italy. It has a population of about two million. Tourism is key growth industry, which should benefit from trading in the euro and the closer integration of the country with its source markets in Western Europe.
Slovenia has progressed economically to the point where it is the wealthiest of the former communist Yugoslavia states, and will mark another milestone in a year's time. In January 2008, Slovenia will be the first of the new wave of EU members to take up the revolving presidency of the Union. One of the key tasks it will then face is the proposed adoption of the euro currency in two other "new" EU members, Cyprus and Malta.

January 2, 2007   Posted in: Europe (General)