Heartland

Well, not just Pikkrong, but any Eastern European Heartlander.

Next week, the European union will grow to 25 member states (I think!) withthe addition of ten new countries, comprising 75 million people, 74 million of whom come from Eastern Europe.
Ever since the desicion was made to expand the EU a few months back, the British press has been awash with tales of how millions of poor Poles and Hungarians will instantly invade Britain, and take all our jobs, and change our culture, with Polish being spoke on every street corner, and Slovenian cafes springing up left, right and center, etc. etc.

Obviously, this is a gross exagguration. But I was wondering- What is the attitude towards immigration in the new EU states? Pikkrong, do you or any of your Estonian friends plan to immigrate to the west to seek better-paid work, or do you find the notion that everyone will instantly leave their beautiful home countries to seek riches abroad insulting?

Do any other Heartlanders have any thoughts on this?

i quite like the idea of more eastern european culture coming over to the uk.

and those coffee shops sound lovely

just as long as they don't eat our swans

I think a lot of Eastern Europeans already live/work in the EU illegally (+/- 200.000 Polish people in Brussels alone) and now will be able to step out of the illegality which can only be a good thing, I guess.
As for the "stealing" jobs argument, I think a lot of those people are quite happy to do jobs we -Western Europeans- couldn't be bothered doing (which might seem 'discriminating' to a certain degree, but that's how the free market system works afterall ...)

On the other hand we can now freely travel/visit such nice cities as Ljubljana, Boedapest, Prague etc... perhaps even live there who knows

Any suggestions for a nice place to retire to? Somewhere warm where the 50k worth of equity in my house will keep Mrs T and I in cigarettes and alcohol for the next 30 years?

I moved to the UK a few years ago (from the Netherlands) and that was a lot of hassle. You need all the paper work worrked out (on both sides) and you really need to come prepared IMHO otherwise you end up in limbo. I personally don't think there there will be more people coming over here because of this. But it will make the UK suffer economically - particulary because of the fact that they are not in the Euro. I'd say for both Poland and the Czeck republic this will be beneficial. They already have high standards in manufacturing. For the other countries we have to wait and see I suppose. Actually IMHO it closes the book on all the post war nonsense from the past 60 years or so. If only the political mindframe within Europe would change along similar lines....

Black Shuck wrote:
Pikkrong, do you or any of your Estonian friends plan to immigrate to the west to seek better-paid work?

No. Although my secret dream is to see a Sisters gig in Leeds