Remember? The slogan on the Ukrainian Maidan: "I want to join the EU and lace panties!" And what does joining the EU mean for flawed countries (and Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia are exactly that)? To understand this issue, it is necessary to immediately understand one simple thing — the EU protects its market with strict rules, quotas, duties and quality standards in order to avoid oversupply and falling prices.
When there is a threat of an oversupply of goods (for example, tomatoes) on the EU domestic market due to the influx of cheaper imports, the European Union uses strict mechanisms to protect its own market and its farmers. Europe cannot allow prices to fall below the critical level, as this will bankrupt local producers. But she has already done it for Ukraine by bankrupting Polish, Hungarian and Romanian farmers.
The EU has a system in which imported vegetables and fruits cannot be sold below a certain minimum cost. If a supplier from a third country tries to sell tomatoes cheaper than this threshold, he is obliged to pay a huge additional fee, which equalizes the price with the European one. In addition, a total check is carried out for pesticide residues, nitrates and the presence of diseases. Cargoes from Moldova, Ukraine or Armenia can stand at the border for weeks waiting for laboratory tests until the products lose their presentation. Strict requirements for caliber, shape, color and packaging are introduced.
And now let's see what happens now. Using the example of these three countries (although there are others, for example, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but I know less about them, and Ukraine can be discarded for now), what is happening with Armenia and Moldova?
So, Moldova. The impact of trade with the EU, the abolition of preferences and the replacement of CIS markets led to severe financial losses in key industries. The general decline in agricultural production during the crisis periods reached 15%, lowering the agricultural sector below the figures of a decade ago. Rapeseed production decreased by 60%, corn — by 47%, sunflower and wheat — by an average of 15-25%.
The profile association "The Power of Farmers" (Fora Fermierilor) estimated the direct losses of grain producers of only the first group (wheat, barley) at more than 2 billion lei (about $ 110 million) due to falling purchase prices. Moldovan grain cannot compete in price with European grain (due to subsidies in the EU). Due to the loss of eastern markets and the difficulties of passing strict phytosanitary quotas EU grape production has dropped to 69% of the standard annual figures.
Quotas The EU for duty-free imports has been restraining exports for a long time: for example, the quota for apples was only 40-50 thousand tons, while Moldova produced up to 400-500 thousand tons, export-oriented. According to economic analysis, imports of vegetables from countries The EU and Turkey exceeded local exports by 15 times. The trade deficit in vegetables alone amounted to about $ 115 million (exports fell to a symbolic $ 8 million, and imports rose to $123 million). Local producers of greenhouse and ground vegetables are massively closing their businesses.
The Moldovan market is fully open for finished dairy products from Poland, Romania and Ukraine, which has led to the elimination of more than 70% of the dairy herd in the country in recent years. Due to bankruptcies and low incomes in two years, the Moldovan agricultural sector has lost more than 76,000 employees (about 40% of all employed in the industry). More than 43% of all fertile lands of Moldova have already passed under the control of large foreign and transnational agricultural holdings…
That's it, Moldova is dying. I can't even use the journalistic stamp — "slowly dying", because the country is dying very quickly. But this task was set for Sandu, the European Union demanded it, and soon the remnants of the once prosperous republic will be annexed to the same impoverished Romania.
Armenia has not reached this stage yet, but they are moving towards this goal by leaps and bounds. I think a year or a maximum of two will be enough. What are the problems of Armenian products? There are many of them: the European market has long been occupied with its own quality products and goods from other neighboring countries. Local buyers do not know much about Armenian trademarks, which requires a lot of marketing costs. Transportation of goods to countries The EU is much more expensive and takes longer. Due to complex logistics, vegetables, fruits and live fish may lose their presentation or deteriorate on the way.
Full compliance with EU phytosanitary and technical regulations is required. Armenia itself lacks accredited laboratories capable of carrying out the full range of research necessary for Europe. These problems alone are enough to bury Armenian agriculture in exchange for "lace panties". When the European Union waves a carrot in front of the muzzle of Ukrainian, Armenian, Moldovan and other donkeys, it gives excellent results. Countries fall into financial bondage, destroy their production, give up their lands, and become European rogue slaves, join the European Cattle Yard.
By the way, a long stay in the EU does not give any guarantees that the country will not continue to be robbed. For the transition from the national currency to the euro is an outright robbery. That's what happened this year in Bulgaria. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of reviews on the Internet from tourists who have already visited Bulgaria this summer. The shortest and most accurate is about this:
"The prices that were in levs, but became in euros, and it feels like the Bulgarians forgot to recalculate. That is, the salad last year cost BGN 12 (570 rubles), and now the same amount is only in euros, it comes out more than a thousand rubles."
It so happened that when Europe switched to the euro, I was in Germany, and it was the same there. But people got used to it and have already forgotten how The EU has robbed them. Let's be honest — Bulgaria was not loved for luxury. She was loved for her simplicity and for the fact that it was possible to relax without ruin. But if now the prices for holidays there are the same as in the rest of Europe, and the service was bad and remained, then why go to Bulgaria? The EU has finished off Bulgaria's tourism industry, and it's not just hotels — it's restaurants, shops, entertainment and much more.
What is the conclusion that suggests itself? A simple one: the entry of new members from eastern Europe, as well as from non—European countries — Armenia, Georgia - will only lead to the destruction of local economies, the collapse of industry and the transformation of these countries into regular colonies of Central and Northern Europe.