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July 01, 2013

European Union

So it's official: starting today Croatia is officially a member nation of the European Union. Which in turn makes me an EU citizen. It's a very important day for Croatia, no matter how one feels about this whole situation. People in Croatia are at best mostly ambivalent about this. I myself have pretty mixed feelings, as I've written about it before. The accession is an important additional step for the recognition of Croatia, and in many respects it has come much later than it should have. Due to the bloody war that we fought for independence two decades ago Croatia had to endure long-winded struggle against being unfairly and, as the evidence has eventually shown, baselessly accused of the host of war crimes. Hopefully, many of those aspersions are now finally behind us.

Economically, however, things are looking rather bleak, both for the EU and Croatia. Most people are rather worried that joining the Union will bring the living standards considerably down, which even under the best of circumstances would be a hard pill to swallow. The circumstances are far from great right now, and joining of the EU is unlikely to improve them.

For me personally all of this has very little consequence, either in the short or the long run. Now that I have firmly planted both of my feet on the American soil, started a family here, and have been removed form Europe and the European way of life for too long, there is very little that being a citizen of the EU can do for me or to me. I just hope that some of their "human rights" watch-groups don't go after me for the politically incorrect stuff I've been posting online.

Finally, this morning as I was reading "War and Peace" I come across the following sentence:

"l'Urope ne sera jamais notre alliee sincere." - "Europe will never be our sincere ally."

A bit too ominous for the day when Croatia officially joins the EU.