And that's the problem with the EU. It will happily turn a blind eye to corruption as long as the exports keep flowing.
Fast forward to today, Liviu Dragnea is serving time for abuse of power, Bulgaria is still dealing with corruption and the Hungary government continues its assault on democracy.
It's beggar's belief why any of these nations membership has not been suspended.
While the arrangement has been very beneficial for us, let's not forget that the EU does need a market to sell inferior products at a premium and they do need our seasonal workers and our educated as well, who would otherwise flee to the US and elsewhere.
I cannot speak for other countries, but seeing the vitriol here gives me a deja vu of the anti-Romanians Brexit campaign.
You know, it was hilarious seeing the UK begging us to send them workers in this Covid crisis ;-)
I am optimistic however. These things happen in a two steps forward, one step back fashion. And unfortunately for the corrupt in this country the geenie is already out of the bottle.
You'll see in the following years.
My Romanian bretheren tend to be more pessimistic. I recommend this book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34890015-factfulness
Bulgaria: Export surplus to Germany https://oec.world/en/profile/country/bgr
Romania: Balanced trade https://oec.world/en/profile/country/rou
Would you mind clarifying what you're referring to?
You need to own the value chain if you want to get richer.
So, thank you for shedding light on the whole of the German plot. I hadn't realized that the Eastern Europe countries were admitted to the EU so the German industry could source components and raw materials without import fees.
The only two alternatives are no trade, or a perfectly balanced trade. Neither one are realistic goals.