Oh, I finally managed to phrase the subject of this topic. If someone thinks of a better one, please change it
Anyway, with this thread I would like to address those of you who live in (and come from) Europe and to be more precise - in the EU. As you probably know, Bulgaria and Romania are to become members of the European Union on 01.01.07 and it is heavily discussed how we will be accepted. Since the members of this forum are intelligent people, it is your opinion that matters to me the most.
What do you know about Bulgaria and Bulgarians? What impression do you have of us? Do you think weâll just come and steal your jobs? Do you thinks of us as âlowerâ people or do you look forward to having a new culture join the big EU family?
Opinions about Romania are also welcome. And donât be afraid to express negative feelings
P.S. There seem to be some Bulgarians in this forum. Of course, they are welcome to comment, too
Hi sls, very interesting topic indeed. I think it is good that Bulgaria and Romania are joining the EU next year because this shows that cultural diversity is a successful concept in Europe too. At first, people are often reluctant to adopt to a new situation and they concentrate on the risks rather than the opportunities. It might be the same with Bulgaria joining the EU.
There are some people in the other EU member states who might think they could lose their job to a Bulgarian. But this notion is based on a lack of information. Even if EU citizenship included an EU wide work permit for the Bulgarians (which it doesnât), it would still be much harder for a Bulgarian to get a job in another EU country for the simple fact that they would have to compete with the locals in the labor market.
I think itâs time for the Europeans to realize that if we pull together and see our cultural and ethnic diversity as a strength rather than an obstacle. And Iâm sure that the Germans, for example, can learn at least as much from the Bulgarians as the Bulgarians can learn from the Germans.
What do I know about Bulgaria? I have great respect for you because in a very short period of time you have changed a lot in your country. For the better. You didnât have anyone to reunify with like we Germans. I think that there are quite a lot of Bulgarians (especially amongst the youth) who are very goal oriented and competitive.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: On the canal[YSaerTTEW443543]
Hi, Torsten!
I agree with your opinion about diversity being a strength but would like to comment on this part of your post:
I do know that there is a lot of reforming going on in Bulgaria and this is probably what you hear every day on the news out there, but speaking as an âinsiderâ (although you would be right to claim that Iâm not mature enough to have an accurate judgement yet), I couldnât say that anything changed in Bulgaria regarding the life of the average Bulgarian. Prices seem to rise, while wages donât, for example.
And yes, there are a lot of competitive and intelligent Bulgarians amongst the youth but Iâm afraid there are also too much of the opposite kind. The intelligent ones show a trend toward leaving the country to find a place where they think they would have better opportunities to realise (realize?) their potential. Some end up coming back because they were generally unaccepted by the locals (You know the song âEnglishman in New Yorkâ) or couldnât find the dreamland they were looking for.
My intention is not to complain about my motherland or something - I just think the situation as described by the media is too idealized. I certainly hope that joining the European Union will help us improve.
P.S. Iâm surprised to see that a German has such a positive view about Bulgaria. The students at my school (which is a German language school and actually one of the best of its kind in Bulgaria - it has a lot of German teachers), including me, have the impression that Germans in particular are very sceptic about the forthcoming expansion of the EU. I myself have been to Germany, my cousins actually live there and they seem to share my point of view. Thanks for shattering this prejudice
Hello,
This is indeed a big topic.
Since here is coming a united and big Europe , seemingly Euro has been accepted by many european countries, there are still lots of problems which canât be settled . Unemployment , poverty and unstability of Politics ,etc. Of course, there are many factors concerned . You canât say all of them are related to the entry into EU.
Each country has its own problems, like the economic extent of development, specially its policies of trade and environment for investment. Then , how to eliminate discrepancies is presented out, personally, I think that is the most important thing for all EU memebers, which decides whether EU can exist longer or not. Because a united and big EU means lots of things, specially the integrity of Economy and Politics, thus, the traditional european economy will be booming again. In fact, now many traditional and old european countries are joining into EU , which is good for Euro , this currency is still competitive for Dollar , Japanese Yen or our RMB. So as long as EU can keep a stable development , the currency of euro will be good for the world economy. ( Whatâs strange, is that up to now UK is still out of the door of EU, maybe Pound wants to keep its traditional advantage in the world.) Thus, from a national viewpoint, EU is helpful for some old european countries though there are existing many domestic problems.
What I am interested in is , with the coming entry into EU, Bulgaria must take series of reforming efforts . I wonder how much extent those efforts will affect your daily lives.
I FangFang, what do you mean by âthe UK is still out of the door of EUâ? As you know, the UK joined the EU in 1973. Although there is a close relation between both, the EU and the Euro are two different things.[YSaerTTEW443543]
People are always skeptical about something new. When the automobile was introduced most people frowned upon it and took time until it was fully embraced. The same holds true with political or social changes. If you ask the Germans about their opinion of Bulgariaâs joining the EU, you will find that many of them are not too fond of this idea. Yet, the advantages of this development clearly outnumber the drawbacks. It just takes time for people to realize this fact.[YSaerTTEW443543]
Youâre absolutely right! Though, along the lines of your analogy, letâs hope that Bulgarians and Romanians donât cause problems whose significance could be compared with the effect of automobiles on the environment :?
Iâm off to watch some soccer (Bulgaria vs the Netherlands). Wish us luck I hope that more people share their opinion about this topic.
HI, Torsten
I didnât express that clearly. Exactly speaking I think all the EU memebers should use Euro , which would be fair to other EU members, mmm. Why do you think the EU and Euro are two different things? Maybe my ideas of that integrity of Economy and Politics are not true, but , to some extent, it is inevitable that all EU members should use the common currency. If it werenât , there would be many problems followingâŚ
Share your viewpoints.
Hi, people!
I, being from Bulgaria myself, would like to share with you my joy that my country will be joining the EU. I can assure you that, despite all of its flaws, Bulgaria will be a proud and worthy member of this union. I truly believe that one day all members of the EU wont regret the admission of Bulgaria. Being so optimistical about joining, I would like to emphasize that BG is still far from attaining blameless results in some spheres like economic condition (poverty, bribery, etc.), environment protection (there is abundence of garbage everywhere), and last but not least, education. Seems like, being one of the most important subjects, most of todays students neglect their education.
Saying all this, in spite of our current problems, I believe that people will actually start realizing that they will become a part of a modern, well educated, studious society. And by realizing this, they would start doing what they have to do.
P.S. Please, let me know of ANY grammar and vocabular mistakes that I have done. And one more thing. Which is right/wrong or more correct: âthrice a dayâ or âthree times a dayâ
Thank you for your attention.
Hi FangFang, what I meant is that there are countries that are EU members but donât use the Euro. Then there are countries that use the Euro but they are not EU members. And of course there are countries that are EU members and use the Euro.
I think you are right, as some point all EU member states will be using the Euro as their national currency, itâs just a question of time. It makes perfect sense to have one common European currency rather than different ones.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: The artist[YSaerTTEW443543]
