Sometimes I think I should start a blog about the Eropean Union. In as much as I believe there are still people who read this occasional blog, I know what you're thinking: yes, so I can rant about what is bad about it, but it is quite the contrary. To be sure, I have as many gripes as the next guy about what is wrong about the EU, much in the love-it/hate-it way I feel about the places in which I live, but I think the tendency should be pro-EU, if only to be one of the only ones who ever says anything positive at all.
This comes about, in part, owing to my experience in the Balkans over the past decade or so, having watched the various improvements to Slovenia, Croatia & Serbia. And frankly, for these countries it is more about little things than big, but cumulatively, these little things are huge in terms of what they do to a place, and ultimately to its people.
One of the things that Western Europeans who visited Eastern Europe in the nineties will remember most unfondly is the smell. The minute you set foot inside of Prague, Moscow, Zagreb, Warsaw you were hit by this kind of industrial funk that probably everybody imagined was owing to factories and what-not, but in fact the smell was more about rotten, old cars that would never have been allowed on the road in the West. I'm not entirely sure of when the regulations about emissions come in, but since 2004 I never smelt this in Slovenia, it faded from Croatia shortly thereafter, and though Serbia still has its stinky moments, it is fading there now too. EU reform number god-knows-what: All member states within the European Union observe the same emission standards for internal combustion engines. To join, you have to get rid of the clunkers. Sure, this has some economic implications to those who can't afford it etc., and the lazy thing to do would be to say, nah, let's just not bother so my cousin can drive his Yugo spewing toxic fumes for the next decade, but somehow, the benefits are just so palpable that once they are in place, you don't want to go back.
Another very noticeable thing are animals on the streets and in the villages. You don't see animals roaming free in Western Europe, but in the nineties Eastern Europe this was very evident. To this day in Serbia you still see what appear to be packs of dogs on the streets, and just the other day in Novi Sad I counted three dead dogs on a new expressway (always breaks my heart) and its the only place I regularly visit where one sees dead animals on the road almost daily. This is not, seemingly so, in Slovenia and no more in Croatia. During a visit to our house on Krk circa 2009 or 2010 we received a letter from the city telling us that we absolutely, no exceptions, had to chip or tag our dogs and cats, with complete instructions on how to do it, or... [it wasn't clear]. The next summer, the gangs of feral cats were mysteriously gone from the village and Krk town. I'm not completely sure if this comes under EU reforms or not, but it was a relief not to worry about our dog being attacked by gangs of cats (I know, right? Cats beating up dogs, and our dog is tough). Anyway, clearly the EU is with it when it comes to this issue.
There are of course other signs of conformity everywhere: it is increasingly difficult to buy antibiotics without a prescription in Serbia as was commonplace just a few years ago. Croatia now does rubbish separation and recycyling, potholes are going in Novi Sad, and there is overall a feeling that somebody is tending to things. One of the things I noticed during my last visit to Novi Sad was that there is now grass where there was mud. Locals don't notice it as presumably the process has been so incremental, but slowly it starts to be more like Strassbourg and less like (say) Tunis. All, in my opinion, very good.
Zoran Djindjic said often before his death (and quoting, I think, Mark Twain, even though he claimed it was an old Indian proverb) that "if you have to swallow a frog, don't stare at it too long". He was talking, I believe, about the need to conform to the ICTFY by giving up Milosevic. Somehow, I think, that most of the EU frog is chopped up in to tiny little pieces that, barely noticed and swallowed without too much difficulty, seem to make these countries better.
This comes about, in part, owing to my experience in the Balkans over the past decade or so, having watched the various improvements to Slovenia, Croatia & Serbia. And frankly, for these countries it is more about little things than big, but cumulatively, these little things are huge in terms of what they do to a place, and ultimately to its people.
One of the things that Western Europeans who visited Eastern Europe in the nineties will remember most unfondly is the smell. The minute you set foot inside of Prague, Moscow, Zagreb, Warsaw you were hit by this kind of industrial funk that probably everybody imagined was owing to factories and what-not, but in fact the smell was more about rotten, old cars that would never have been allowed on the road in the West. I'm not entirely sure of when the regulations about emissions come in, but since 2004 I never smelt this in Slovenia, it faded from Croatia shortly thereafter, and though Serbia still has its stinky moments, it is fading there now too. EU reform number god-knows-what: All member states within the European Union observe the same emission standards for internal combustion engines. To join, you have to get rid of the clunkers. Sure, this has some economic implications to those who can't afford it etc., and the lazy thing to do would be to say, nah, let's just not bother so my cousin can drive his Yugo spewing toxic fumes for the next decade, but somehow, the benefits are just so palpable that once they are in place, you don't want to go back.
Another very noticeable thing are animals on the streets and in the villages. You don't see animals roaming free in Western Europe, but in the nineties Eastern Europe this was very evident. To this day in Serbia you still see what appear to be packs of dogs on the streets, and just the other day in Novi Sad I counted three dead dogs on a new expressway (always breaks my heart) and its the only place I regularly visit where one sees dead animals on the road almost daily. This is not, seemingly so, in Slovenia and no more in Croatia. During a visit to our house on Krk circa 2009 or 2010 we received a letter from the city telling us that we absolutely, no exceptions, had to chip or tag our dogs and cats, with complete instructions on how to do it, or... [it wasn't clear]. The next summer, the gangs of feral cats were mysteriously gone from the village and Krk town. I'm not completely sure if this comes under EU reforms or not, but it was a relief not to worry about our dog being attacked by gangs of cats (I know, right? Cats beating up dogs, and our dog is tough). Anyway, clearly the EU is with it when it comes to this issue.
There are of course other signs of conformity everywhere: it is increasingly difficult to buy antibiotics without a prescription in Serbia as was commonplace just a few years ago. Croatia now does rubbish separation and recycyling, potholes are going in Novi Sad, and there is overall a feeling that somebody is tending to things. One of the things I noticed during my last visit to Novi Sad was that there is now grass where there was mud. Locals don't notice it as presumably the process has been so incremental, but slowly it starts to be more like Strassbourg and less like (say) Tunis. All, in my opinion, very good.
Zoran Djindjic said often before his death (and quoting, I think, Mark Twain, even though he claimed it was an old Indian proverb) that "if you have to swallow a frog, don't stare at it too long". He was talking, I believe, about the need to conform to the ICTFY by giving up Milosevic. Somehow, I think, that most of the EU frog is chopped up in to tiny little pieces that, barely noticed and swallowed without too much difficulty, seem to make these countries better.
