Will Eastern Europe OVERTAKE Western Europe?

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Video: Will Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) overtake Western Europe? This video will explore six key factors that have contributed to the outperformance of CEE countries in economic terms, while also contemplating the possibility of future catch-up with their Western counterparts.
Mistakes (sorry):
- Slovakia population is 5.4 Million. Not 4 million.
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[@sirsausagedog4162]

Ok

[@Nalesnik158]

Romania is not an IT hub, because this role was assigned to Poland. Romania is far behind Poland and I have no doubts about that. The same goes for development. Poland is the only one of the listed countries to be a highly developed country since 2018. Romania buys laptops for 200,000 poor families, Poland buys for a million such families so that children can have free access to the Internet. When it comes to Poland, Poland ranks second just behind Estonia in terms of online life: e-schools, e-offices, e-churches, e-medicine. Example? There are no paper sick leaves, prescriptions from a doctor, doctor's referrals, e-ID cards are available from September 1 this year, all bills come by e-mail, companies settle through the system, all official applications can be dealt with on-line except for death certificates and marriage certificates matrimonial. Polish society functions on telephone applications. Electronic banking is at the highest world level - Poland has its own BLIK payment system (my mother can be in Poland shopping and not having money with her, she calls me on the other side of the world and within a few seconds her purchases are paid from my account) . There are many more novelties that you from Western Europe have seen in Si-Fi movies, and in Poland it is everyday life. That's why you have no idea what you're talking about. By placing Poland in terms of digital development, you have done Poland a disservice - because you can't even imagine what technologies ordinary people play with today. When a child gets any mark at school or is absent from class, the mother automatically receives a telephone message through the school system. The Germans have no idea about this type of technology and it is very hard for them to accept anything new. Why? Because Germany does not have such solutions. Germans have paper, queues in offices and have to take time off work to do anything at the office. In Poland such things were 10 years ago. Compared to Poland, Germany is a technologically backward country. You do not believe? Go check it out.

[@Alex-df4lt]

@@Nalesnik158 Poland has one major disadvantage - location. When Russian army goes on a trip westwards, Poland's prosperity is over.

[@PR-no5is]

Please remove Hungary from the equasion. Orban is a traitor to Europe and Putin's puppet. Should be expelled out of EU and NATO as their activity is detrimental to alliances.

[@slavomirtuma9765]

​@@sirsausagedog4162By the way Czech Republic isnt Easter Europe but Middle Europe like Germány , Poland , Hungary , Austria , Slovakia and Switzetland. I hate when someone say the Czechs are Russians and Czech Republic Is in Eastern Europe.

[@jerloxcool6671]

Yes we are still poorer than west. But our streets are very safe compare to west europe. And this is priceless.

[@xdlol59]

Exactly this. You can't buy calm and safe society.

[@piersp38]

That's because Your criminals are in our streets and you put here without any shame. Look at our jails the nationality of the prisoners than big shame on you!

[@mrmrmrcaf7801]

​@@piersp38Wrong. Because you are to soft on criminals,your jails are like hotels you are too woke....no criminal wants to go to jail in Eastern Europe that's for damn sure...look at woke america streets and soon you will see your streets like that.

[@luigirescigno9226]

I live in the West and my streets are clean and safe too. But in any case, the fact that eastern Europe cities are more calm is just another sign of underdevelopement: immigrants come to west and sadly not all of them are good people.

[@engien460]

Safer and cleaner.

[@shp3ck]

i'm a romanian IT worker having worked over 15 years in IT sector in Romania in Cluj-Napoca. The low taxes to It workers were a big factor for the large investments but the major advantage Romania had during the starting years was was not at all the investment in it computers for schools, but the buildup of internet access infrastructure around the country together with the large influence of post 90s television( think MTV, cartoon network for english or Viva or RTL for german in transilvania) . These language skills facilitated the young population to quickly learn and easily communicate with with western world. But even before the 2006 internet boon, i can remember it was full of internet cafes full of young people just chatting on mIRC or playing games. I remember fondly my first days on a computer were playing fifa98 in an internet caffee with school colleagues while learning the lyrics to blur's famous song 2 by heart at the age of then 12. As an example, the first time i visited Hungary i was shocked that nobody i came in contact with spoke English.

[@marcind4644]

It is quite remarkable that Romania has a way better internet access than many "rich countries".

[@agostonpalatinus1513]

Greetings! I'm from Hungary, here, most people does not really speak English, you need to contact them with German or Russian. Nowadays youth mostly speak (to be honest you need to) English to get well with strangers. Btw, Hungarian does not really have any european connection on language level, its easier for a romanian to learn spanish, or italian, english. Also we have hungarian voice sync for almost every film (Which quality mostly pretty good and this is another reason why they dont learn another language) Sometimes I experienced the same you wrote for example but in Romania. But I can give that, most of us do not speak English very well. (including me)

[@razviaurelian7095]

​@@agostonpalatinus1513it is mostly because România still uses subtitles whilst Hungary translation on tv From my Point of view that,s where Hungary got it wrong.the school system în Romania is not that good and most people are șelf thought

[@mastermindd]

@@razviaurelian7095 In Hungary the school system is bad as wel... many people are just afraid to openly speak English or any other foreign language really, because their communist teachers gave them a lot of trauma back in the day... trust me on this..

[@attilakovacs2231]

First time when i've visited rom*nia, there was no food, nor electricity in that rathole. I was so shocked, couldn't stop to cry.

[@ursdaniel]

In 2000 the GDP of Romania was around 38 Billions. In 2028, Romania is projected GDP is to be over 400 billions , 12 times more comparing to 2000...Mindblowing....

[@TheBlackManMythLegend]

in 30 yr. living close to the biggest market with EU money injections and open market .... I mean normal.

[@ursdaniel]

@@TheBlackManMythLegend 2007 admition to EU. So, in 2028, will be 21 years of EU. In 2037, when will be 30 years of EU membership, Romania GDP projection will be around 650 Billions. :)

[@outerspace8158]

Part of soviet

[@ursdaniel]

@@outerspace8158 no, you Putin. Part of European Union.

[@rolandnegrei1427]

Estimations are a fool's game. In 2022 Romania had a GDP of 300 billions. In 2023 it will have (hopefully, if nothing goes wrong) around 310 billions. To reach 400 billions by 2028 Romania will need growth of more than 5% every single year. This is extremely unlikely to happen, given the slow down of the global economy in general and of the major European economies in particular (Romanian economy is VERY connected to the economies of other European countries, especially Germany).

[@kpharck]

When Polish transport companies started dominating on the common market by superior quality and price, France and Germany introduced the Displaced Worker Directive, effectively killing them. Fair play ? :-)

[@adamt3332]

What he says and this is common in EU that is helping old countries when loosing to the competition.

[@WM78]

This is much fairer than sending people on a business trip and paying them for the same work less than locals. Labour standards and pay equality must be an obligatory requirement for any EU business. Companies, regardless of their origin, should comply with local laws and wages when doing business in Western Europe, promoting fair competition. If you are exercising a job in France you should get paid like in France. Low-wage competition is unacceptable and harms local workers' well-being. Regulatory measures are not intended to kill competition, but to ensure that it is done fairly. Prices in the West are higher, so it's not enough for locals to get as much as, for example, in Poland. Our goal should be a strong, fair economy where both businesses and people thrive with respect and dignity. If an employer from country X wants to do business in Western Europe, he should apply to his employees the same standards and wages as for locals in the country where he operates. This way we have fair competition People sleeping in cars for weeks and paid less is unacceptable and anyone who approves of such solutions should be ashamed of themselves.

[@Euxiphipops77]

@@WM78 Yes, keep believing that it was only meant to protect these poor Eastern Europe drivers. I am so touched Germany and France care so much about us.

[@WM78]

@@Euxiphipops77 This is to protect local workers from lowering wages. It can't be that hard. A delegation for a few weeks and lower wages are not a solution. No one should live in the driver's cabin for several weeks. We are in Europe, not India. You propose that German and French drivers move their lives into the cab as some employers in the EU compete by lowering standards. I say that everyone should apply the same European standards. You're on the wrong side, dreaming you're defending the national interest. The nation is people, not employers. Stop waving national flag, start noticing citizens.

[@vibranium9143]

One of many examples of how the EU/Western Europe sabotage eastern economies. Then they complain when immigrants arrive in west europe and they dare to earn above minimum wage and purchase property.

[@adriankrawczyk31]

As a Pole, I think it's worth saying one thing. The problem with Shock Therapy was that it made almost 20% of Polish unemployed in 90s (1993 was very bad) . There was no work, especially in smaller cities. Inflation was reduced, but a large group of people had no money to buy food. Only people with money which they gained during communist times (of course in most of times illegally) wasn't harmed, they used opportunity to get richer even more.

[@patrickb1811]

It was worth it tho.

[@neutronshiva2498]

@@patrickb1811 For thoose who stole and plundered, surely.

[@zarjesve2]

In Yugoslavia no communist gain any money during communist times - only after fall of communism people get rich by grabbing/looting once public/state/people property.

[@beryk2008]

Romania went the other way, keeping people employed in those factories without producing a thing for another 10 years. I think Poland was and is in a better spot economically.

[@SzymkowiAK47]

Tak ale na dłuższą skalę to wyszło nam to na bardzo dobre

[@albevanhanoy]

Eastern European countries are the perfect demonstration of how powerful the EU is. It's not just a trading block. It has lifted millions out of poverty.

[@alm9322]

To say that it's the EU that did it is simply ignorant. Everyone that knows anything about history of those countries know, that the main reason for this growth were the reforms made in the early 90's, that introduced free market and privatised big state-owned companies. Visegrad and Baltic countries were already very quickly growing when they joined the EU and countries that did not implement necessery reform like Bulgaria and to some extent Romania aren't any richer than for example neighbouring Serbia that is not in the EU. You're mistaking cause with effect.

[@albevanhanoy]

@@alm9322 To say that only reforms did it and the EU did nothing is absolutely ignorant. Unlike you, I never claimed it was the sole cause, but I did claim that it was an important one, as this video blatantly demonstrates.

[@heinzbongwasser2715]

You mean capitalism

[@alm9322]

@@albevanhanoyThe EU had barely any impact on the current economic level of those nations. Bulgaria and Romania are also in the EU but that didn't help them, because they did not reform their economic system.

[@alm9322]

@@heinzbongwasser2715The biggest part of it was introducing capitalism, but another important factor was reforming post-communist corrupt state institutions, that usually halted progress for many years after the fall of communism.

[@dumyjobby]

Romanian here, in the last 20 year we had incredible economic growth, my country is almost unrecognizable from a decades ago. Today we have decent wages, lots of good jobs, low crime rate, low personal debt and jobs are very easy to find, in fact we have a shortage of workers and is common to see ads from businesses looking for people,BUT we are not going to surpass western counties like Germany due to low birth rate and strategic position. Romania is aging fast and looking at current birthrate i don't know who i could hire in 20 years time. There are very few children, lots of young people move to wealthier countries and here in Romania we have a depleted workforce. My countryman need to start having more sex and make babies because in a few decades from now there will be no workforce if this trend continues. I'm a millennial and looking at the younger generation i see even less interest in having a family and kids. If we don't change this culture we are going to become irrelevant in the next decades

[@georgeblazhev]

Same in Bulgaria. Also both countries benefit from high home ownership

[@petrudanmandru9583]

Another romanian, true words, I'm in my 40's and i can feel the incredible economic growth but the birth rate is droping fast. Only by now I'm think of having 1-2 children, and my contryman in the 20-30's don't think about having children. I hope for a better future for me and Romania !

[@The_Bogdanator]

Stop telling them let them stay away. All we need si immigration

[@999mi999]

@@The_Bogdanator While Northern and Western Europe clamps down on immigration, we follow exactly every step they took, good or bad, instead of learning from their mistakes. The goal is to retain people, bring back the Romanians that immigrated, and encourage the population to have children.

[@Purple_flower09]

​@@999mi999in theory the UK is anti immigration but the truth is that the population is expected to grow by 2 million over the next ten years because of immigration. Meanwhile Germany will have a falling population. UK governments just lie about migration. Now the UK is outside the EU the government invites migrants from Asia and Africa. Without immigration the UK wouldn't have people with the right skills because we are hopeless at training people.

[@Zelea-nj3pz]

I left Romania 9 years ago for the UK. I go visit only every 2-3 years so it’s easy to spot the progress. My first and only job after finishing high school and before I left, I was paid 400 something euros per month. Now, 9 years later, my sister that still didn’t finish university got a job in Human Resources, as a beginner and first job at 1000 euros without bonuses and add ons. The whole country is changing and it’s easy to see from my perspective, looks a lot different than when I left, and a hell of a lot more than 15-20 years ago when I was a kid. I won’t surpass Germany for example, wages could get closer but not more. It’s still good, mind you, prices are a lot lower in Romania and Eastern Europe in general than in the West. So a close wage to the West ones would mean similar living standard since expenses are lower. My wife is Polish and we’re not planning to stay forever in the UK since everything went down the drain with Brexit, Covid and war in Ukraine. Life was dope before here. So we’re having a hard time deciding where we want to build our forever home as both Poland and Romania are going in the right direction.

[@gabriela.07]

don't worry, the majority of romanians are still paid an average of 400€ per month=))

[@AlexD_20]

​@gabriela.07 where did you get 400 from?😂 606 is minimum and 800+ is average according to google

[@Zelea-nj3pz]

@@gabriela.07 maybe working the fields as a zilier 😂

[@mr.marius5094]

Hai acasa man. Eu am crescut in spania de la 9 ani si am stat 15 ani acolo si m am intors. Nu regret. Locuiesc la curte si am o liniste... Sunt neajunsuri precum spitalele dar poti merge la privat. Autostrazi deja se construiesc si speram sa schimbam si politica putin cate putin. Salutari

[@loloutplays5232]

As a romanian i can say that what you are talking about it is not true. That are just numbers, ofcourse eastern europe is doing better than in the past, but if you live there, you will see that there are a lot of gaps.Educational system is down with a rate of 50%+ of functional illiteracy.Corruption and bureaucracy everywhere, you need to bribe the institutions for almost every aspect, also we are not that good at digitalization.Eastern europe will have a good time for some decades, then will go back again during demographics problems and political stagnation.

[@VictorRTonyY]

Yes of course because Polish, Romanians, and Bulgarians filled the worker's gaps in the WEST and all the money they send it back home, money earned very hard. Eu did nothing just making double standards and was an open market for all the western companies like banks, and retail stores, buying all the competition. If the economy is bigger that doesn't mean is better or is a healthy system.

[@loloutplays5232]

finaly someone who can see that things

[@robertburbulea2863]

Higher GDP sounds good and all, and I'd like a video on how the quality of life changed. IT workers in Romania like myself are very privileged, but a lot of people without higher studies are still struggling

[@jurajcepar4907]

I was an IT worker and struggling. Moved to the west, now am on par with other people at least. The salaries are a joke, if you don't inherit property, you're as done for as the westerners in their overpriced cities. Except that your rent is 100, salary 600 while theirs is 3000 and 6000. I'll still take having 1k spare money over 100.

[@illuminati3417]

I agree, me working in IT coming from a poor neighborhood of a town... A lot of people struggle to make ends meet..Minimum wage is still 400 euros NET and if god forbids something happens to you, the state gives you 200 euros for your illness benefits. The only thing I would add is that almosst everyone except the homeless people and some hipsters in Cluj have a home or their parents have one at least. I'm 23 years old and about to have my bachelor's and been working in IT for 2 years, I always like to think that Romania is evolving, but when looking to the poorer parts of the country.. it seems to be the same as before. Also theoretically you could work part time if you have a mental or physical disability.. almost no one would hire you, so you are stuck with those 200 euros.

[@zeminoid]

Skill issue

[@brendansherlock6442]

Bringing tech giants in will bring money but also woke ideology. Be careful what you trade for coin. The country will be controlled by corporations in no time

[@vaxian837]

As a Romanian who works in the IT industry, I am sorry to tell you that you are very wrong. The government has zero credit for internet speeds and they did not invest in education at all, in fact the Romanian education system consistently ranks near the bottom. The reason for the high internet speeds is particularly the fact that the government staid out of it. In the early 2000s, thousands of small private ISPs popped up and they were viciously competing with each other for customers, the main selling points being high speed and low prices. Even today, if you live in an urban area, there are at least two-three ISPs to choose from, so competition is fierce, which keeps speeds high and prices low. As for the IT specialists part, it's partly a trick. Programmers in Romania are exempt from paying income tax, so what many IT companies do is to hire even non technical staff as programmers, because in the end no income tax means lower payroll costs. This isn't technically legal, but it's not explicitly illegal either, so more like a loophole.

[@Ascalonn88]

I agree mostly with the first 2 parts but the 3rd is not very correct. There is a misunderstanding that IT workers are only programmers, which is not the case. The gov did encourage (the Nastase gov) the IT sector which was beneficial.

[@cezar3977]

Great argument pro minimal state. The government should stay as much as possible out of the private and economic life ot its citizens and allow enterpreneurial freedom.

[@nieczerwony]

LOL. Same in Poland. We have quite fast broadband not thanks to gov. With IT in Poland we have other issue. IT specialists are being paid really well, but government spotted this, and our prime minister started to mention something about bringing extra tax for IT folks. 😅

[@jjeverson2269]

Is this how Andrew Tate pays no tax?

[@vaxian837]

@@jjeverson2269 One thing you should know about Tate is that he is full of shit. I have met quite a few high net worth individuals over the years and one thing I know about them, they do not behave like Andrew Tate. Ofc, first rule is that you don't flaunt about how much money you make because that just invites people to come after you. Secondly he had a bunch of assets in his/his brother/associates' names which made it really easy for the authorities to confiscate that shit. All in all, Romanian authorities confiscated 3.6 million worth of cars and other luxury assets. If he was smart, he would have at the very least leased those cars, instead of buying them. Realistically, he's probably worth around 10-20 million and most of that money is from his kickboxing, not his businesses in Romania.

[@pawew.6830]

European funds for Eastern Europe were intended as compensation for the abolition of customs duties and making their markets available to unequal and unfair competition with entities from Western Europe. Some Western countries, such as Sweden, Germany or the Netherlands, used this opportunity very well, others, such as Italy or France, much worse. Similarly, with the use of EU funds by Eastern European countries, some allocated funds for appropriate investments, other countries misappropriated these funds.

[@samuil-vasilev]

Each country which is in the European Union pays an anual fee which means that those funds are not for free. I will give you an example with Bulgaria - last year our fee was higher than the funds which we received. If we are talking about previous years, the money which we have received as funds were like 200 - 300 milion euros more than the fee. Considering that the EU made us close 3 of our nuclear power plants (which were actually brand new) leads to the situation that we are actually losing from the EU. The EU ruined our agrocultural sector as well.

[@editfazekas3854]

@@samuil-vasilev Hungary was/is in the same predicament re. agriculture. Hungary got 20 % of the funds others got starting in 2004 then each year got 10% more. This way it got as much support as others starting only in 2012.

[@Joey-ct8bm]

@@samuil-vasilev You're welcome from the Netherlands. My country never made money from the EU ever and gave the east mountains of money. Hearing you complain about a one year deficit in EU funds makes the hair on my back stand up. How about kissing our feet and say thank you Netherlands for the wealth we now have and having to send it to Moscow anymore. Jeez, these people.

[@Bayard1503]

@@Joey-ct8bm Alright but how much does Netherlands' economy benefit by taking over the markets in these countries?? Basically how many Bulgarian products do you buy compared to them buying Dutch stuff???

[@Mirko-tw8wq]

@@Joey-ct8bm Its like @pawew.6830 wrote: funds are not free money. EU is not a charity organization. There was a deal which (at that time) was obviously beneficial for both EU and the new countries: EU got access to cheap labor and big markets, while the new countries got the funds and could modernize. Most of the funds went back to the "old" EU countries anyway, since their companies were actually hired for the new projects like investments in infrastructure. So the fees paid by "old EU countries", actually benefits both sides.

[@janvandergeert8680]

Maybe not the East won't surpass Western Europe, but the Southern one certainly. I am half Belgian (Fleming) and half Italian and I often travel between the two countries. Every time I pass from Belgium to Italy I feel like I'm going back 20-30 years.

[@i.3683]

what

[@janvandergeert8680]

@@i.3683 It's not so strange, Slovenia and the Czech Republic have already overtaken Greece and it seems to me also Spain.

[@alexanderzippel8809]

Yeah. Northern and Western Europe wont be overtaken. The East will probably be getting on equal terms but not overtake them. But Southern Europe has been since the industrialization economically weaker than northern Europe. Just take a look at Germany, France or even the Netherlands and compare that to Spain and Italy

[@pionieresvizzero2224]

@@alexanderzippel8809 Actually Germany is in economic recession due to their suicideenergy policies. In terms of GDP per capita, it could lose several positions in the standings in the coming years.

[@jorehir]

From which Belgian city or area exactly? So i can take a look at the future...

[@SalesmanPride]

I have another explanation on why Eastern Europe is closing to Western Europe: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z2elgGiCpNR3apo

[@PradedaCech]

One of the Czech words for supermarket, samoobsluha, means literally "self-service," pointing to the innovation at the time that you pick the goods up from the shelves yourself. You can still find smaller shops in Russia and Ukraine that sell groceries over the counter - not easy to shop there if you don't speak the language! :)

[@romanmelnyk1777]

Like you need to have a meaningful conversation with cashier.

[@PradedaCech]

@@romanmelnyk1777 The shelves are stacked densely, so just pointing in the general direction of something you want is not always enough.

[@romanmelnyk1777]

@@PradedaCech Honestly it has been a while since I've seen these kinds of shops in Ukraine. Most of them are supermarket like. But I bet the same could be said about Czech shops: if you don't speak the language like can be hard. P.S Want to thank Czech people for all support, especially for hosting refugees. Thank you

[@PradedaCech]

@@romanmelnyk1777 I saw it in 2017 or 2018 close to Kyiv airport. In Czechia these shops don't exist any more since decades, I think the switch to self-service supermarkets happened already in Communist times. I have never seen it, and I grew up in the 90s.. Only the word stayed, but it is also a bit old-fashioned now. :) I'm very glad about the support to Ukraine, especially that for once Czechia was among the countries that reacted quickly..

[@serebii666]

In the west it was also historically standard to be served by staff over the counter. The were "general stores" or groceries. The concept of self-service groceries was patented in 1917 in the USA by the company Piggly Wiggly. From then on, especially past-1940s self-service became much more popular in America as the suburbs grew, since stores became larger, and the labour and time dealing with a cashier fetching groceries became too expensive. They then started coming to Europe in the 1950s-60s. In Czechoslovakia they came in 1955 in a samoobsluha in Husitská in Žižkov, and then throughout the country between 1958-59, when the first self-service drogeries also appeared.

[@theChaosKe]

Judging this from a west vs east german perspective, it looks like a smaller version of west vs east europe. At the start east german GDP was around 1/3 of the west german GDP but it grew very quickly to around 80% now. However catching up has drastically slowed and almost halted for the last 10 years or so. I would assume it might result in something similar for eastern europe.

[@alexanderzippel8809]

So getting close and maybe equal but not overtaking? Yeah, seems the most realistic

[@rrkn8697]

@@alexanderzippel8809 It won't economically overtake it for sure in the near future, but QoL might even be better if they remain homogenous

[@_o..o_1871]

@@rrkn8697That’s bulls*it!

[@_o..o_1871]

@@rrkn8697Quality of life doesn’t improve with naz*s

[@rrkn8697]

@@_o..o_1871 ??? homogenous coutries are safer. 60% of rapes in Sweden are from 20% of population born abroad. There is a reason why for example Japan, Poland, Iceland are very safe

[@tomastichy3496]

I will give u eastern Europe…. We are CENTRAL Europe 🎉💪🇸🇰🇨🇿🇵🇱

[@slavianalbanovich9025]

Center-est

[@ermengardalombardi906]

I'm from Italy and I think my nation will be overtaken within 10-15 years by almost all the countries of Eastern Europe (in terms of GDP per capita) This is because, in my opinion, this country has taken the anti-modernist drift, most likely caused by a mythologizing of the past (what could be defined as a cult of the golden age), where by past I don't necessarily mean the Renaissance or humanism , but also simply the era of the post-war economic boom; My feeling is that there is an idea that everything used to be better and that this will come in the future is an abberation that will challenge the status quo. Here many people believe in the idea of ​​degrowth, of tradition, of the rural environment as an ideal place. Practical examples can be 1) the recent ban on cultivated meat which is seen as a threat to local farmers (although most of the meat comes from intensive farms in the Po Valley). The impossibility for Italian companies to invest in this sector will ensure that the necessary know-how cannot be developed and therefore we are already destined to fall behind. 2) The strong reluctance to use cards instead of banknotes, the latter being considered as real money, as opposed to "virtual" money. For now, the only consequences are that tax evaders are protected and the mafia rejoices in this. 3) The apprenticeship idea to enter the world of work, many employers offer starvation wages because they are convinced that a new employee does not deserve a full salary, and then many young people end up fleeing abroad (brain drain) 4) Deep hatred for electric cars seen as the object that will bring the glorious years of Italian automotive history to the grave (I can understand being against the ban on thermal cars, but the problem here is politics, not electric cars per se). As with meat, the Italian auto industry will lag far behind. 5) The structure of today's Italian school is still that of the school of the Fascist era, every attempt to modernize the educational system is also seen as a modern devilry. The problem of the Italian school is that it is very notional and theoretical, and often the pragmatic aspect is overshadowed. Many Italians arrive at university not knowing the basics of programming and knowing nothing about economics (subjects taught in a few specialized schools). 6) Strong lack of interest in learning the English language. Many people who have abandoned compulsory schooling, especially in rural areas, even forget standard Italian and speak only the dialect, English is perceived as distant as the Martian language. The lack of knowledge of English and the fact of withdrawing into one's own bubble is leading people to not know how the rest of the advancing world works, while abroad there is talk of artificial intelligence that could replace jobs, in Italy we talk about whether Beppe's cow or Toni's cow produced more milk. I believe that all these factors condemn my country to remain very backward, at least until a complete generational changeover. It doesn't help the political class which obviously insists on defending the Italians from the future, promising a happy return to the 50s and 60s.

[@slavianalbanovich9025]

very true

[@valeenoi2284]

Keep voting for the far Reich parties.

[@ermengardalombardi906]

@@valeenoi2284 I have never voted far right and never will, but I think anti-modernism here is embraced by both left and right. The right is for tradition, for religion, for keeping business the same, and for the old school; while the left is for degrowth and often, in its extreme fringes, has proved to be nostalgic for the communist struggles. Furthermore, the fight against climate change in Italy is already lost from the start since the right-wing parties are deniers, while the left is against nuclear power.

[@valeenoi2284]

@@ermengardalombardi906 I have two aunts and several cousins still living there. I'll just visit Italy in the future, but I consider it a lost country because of its backward religious views and march towards Alt-Reichism. For every extreme Communist, there are 50 right wingers in Italy, and that means, the country is toast. Its decline has accelerated since the far right parties taken over a decade ago. I'll just enjoy its culture, art, and cuisines for time being.

[@DanielaFromAitEile]

Very well written. I m afraid another factor hindering the progress in Italy is that many Italians don't see/won't admit that Italy is falling behind already and therefore find no reason to favour change

[@dumi_019]

one clarificatin , the romanian government did NOT offer internet acces, the internet infrastructure was not due to the government but due to private local companies

[@herbertdarick7693]

I live in the Czech Republic. The income gap between this country and Germany has been being enormous for the last more than thirty years and is nowhere close to being bridged. The extension of the EU eastward has been a very successful neoliberal project that enabled Western European businesses to take over former Eastbloc industries and to produce more cheaply, because of lower labour costs, worse labour conditions, lower ecological standards, etc. At the same time, it has provided them with new markets. The former Eastbloc countries have to a certain extent become colonies of the West. Politically they belong to the periphery, they're not powerful. Economically they are dependent of Western European and other foreign investors. If Volkswagen decides to move the production of Skoda cars to Morocco, there's not much the Czechs can do and it would mean an enormous blow to the Czech economy.

[@serebii666]

And? As if Volkswagen hypothetically choosing to move their German operations over seas would be any different? These corporations are globalized they have little loyally to any country including their founding one. We still produce our own Škoda's, that company would not exist if not for the cash injection from VW group in the early 2000s. The Czech industrial landscape had not had any upgrades for 40 years when the market economy returned. Klaus' market shock therapy, for all his other misgivings, made Czechia one of the most successful and quick transitions back to a market economy. You need only look at Bulgaria or Ukraine for the opposing potential path outcome. And as for poorer ecological standards, that is a hardly a product of Western companies, when we still produce so much of our power from coal to maintain "independence", while at the same time entirely relying on Russian gas shipments. Czechia is not a "colony of the West", we can actually compare to what being a colony-client was when regarding the COMECOM economic system. It is ludicrous and politically charged polemic to describe our current situation as such. Czechia itself is developing high tech services, bio-tech and other economic spheres, our issue is being a small market with a rare and difficult language, which makes us less lucrative than for instance Poland or DACH. If we spoke more foreign languages, especially German and English, we would be even more attractive investment destinations, that what we are currently: riding on the success of being proximate to the largest EU economy.

[@herbertdarick7693]

The title of the video was Will Eastern Europe overtake Western Europe? My answer is no. The average monthly income in Germany is a little more than EUR 4000,in the Czech Republic, it's a bit more than EUR 1500. That is an enormous gap and that gap has not become substantially smaller the last 25 years at least. Furthermore, the centres of economic power haven't moved from the west to the east. Economic decisions that affect the Czech economy are made in the Western European or elsewhere located headquarters, not in Prague or Brno. The newest technological developments are researched and developed outside the Czech Republic. Politically, the centres of power are in Western Europe, not in Prague. This is true for all the former Eastbloc countries unfortunately.

[@ArtisZ]

Your entry refutes itself. "Western Europe is a beneficiary for cheaper labour" and "it would be a blow to Czechia if Czech company relocated to a cheaper labour country" is contradictory phrases. Choose - either the richer country has it worse or better, can't be both (on the same aspect).

[@serebii666]

@@herbertdarick7693 Okay, first of all let's clear up the errors. The Median netto salary for Germany is €2,380. The Median netto salary in Czechia €1,466. The median netto salary for Austria is €1,968. The Gap has indeed become substantially smaller both in nominal and PPP terms. 25 years ago Germany was 1.7x wealthier, now it is less than 1.3x in terms of PPP. Salaries in Prague are now comparable to Berlin for instance, Brno competes with Vienna, while border towns like Liberec or Budějovice now have significant numbers commuters, who work and earn in the city while living in Germany. And as for economic centers not moving east you are again wrong. Articles and economists have been noting for the past 10 years of the re-rise of Silesia, Saxony, and the Moravia-Vienna Metro region. Economists are calling it the "Green Banana". The traditionally so called "Blue banana" is indeed shifting eastward, as old centers like the UK, and Milan and the Po Valley are losing competitiveness. Already in 2000 economists presented the Blue Banana's eastward axis expanding along the lines of Berlin, Prague and Trieste. And you are again wrong on Czechia's own agency in it's development. Czechia, with Prague, Brno and to lesser extents Budějovice, Plzeň and Liberec are serving as startup drivers and sources of the tertiarization of the economy. We have plenty of startups and direct foreign investment. Czechia's most major issue is the small market and difficult language which makes it less attractive as a primary source for operations in the single market, but even despite that we still have strong growth, even compared to much larger markets like Poland. And on the topic of Poland, their large domestic market base exactly make them very competitive, to the other Large EU economies, they are directly competitive with Italy or Spain now, with home grown industries. In terms of Politics it is impossible to claim the centers of Power are in the West, when we see jsut over the past few years the strength of dissent and policy making that the 2004+ enlargement countries have had. We see it in relief funds and budget, migration policy, Green energy, automotive emissions etc.

[@christophv.3274]

​@serebii666 volkswagen is a bad example. It's massively controlled by the German workforce and German government. So it's very hard for vw to move big parts of their production in other country's. For other big German companies it's also not that easy because of our laws. I think the original point was, that it is easier for a foreign company to relocate the production than for a local company and the former east states are rather a production place for western countries than for their own companies. There are no world wide companies in the east

[@andrasadam8256]

Wow, incredible video! I love that you delved into each country, rather than just generalizing like some other channels do, its super refreshing to see. I also love the format with the length, the intro, and it's also nice to see the face behind the voice!

[@EUMadeSimple]

Glad you enjoyed it! It was a lot of effort but i also like this new format better :) appreciate the feedback!

[@blinski1]

2:38 One thing about grocery shopping in Poland. It's not that all we had back in the socialism era were small shops with old ladies by the counters. There were several classes of shops and the ones that you mention were called GS (Gminna Spółdzielnia - 'Municipal Cooperative'), and were to find in the villages and small towns. In bigger towns, since the late 1950's, there were also SAM shops (SAM being shortening of 'samoobsługowy' - 'self service'), which were like minimarts, and SUPERSAM markets, which were like supermarkets. In shops of SAM and SUPERSAM classes baskets and carts were used, as they were, like the name said, self-service stores. Main problem still were product shortages and variety.

[@jakubosiejewski9859]

I also never heard of Polish supermarkets open 24-7, except for Tesco which was widely derided and became a thing only after EU accession.

[@bratbrata4974]

Proszę pamiętać, że gminne spółdzielnie sięgają swoją historią do okresu zaborów. "SPOŁEM" zostało stworzone po to by Polacy nie byli zależni od zaborców Chodziło także o edukację społeczeństwa. Komuna to tylko adoptowała do swoich celów.

[@ivogianfranco1633]

First, the entire premise of this video is flawed right from the start. This strictly two-dimensional East/West concept of Europe was an artificial 20th century cold-war era geopolitical construct. For approx. THOUSAND years there has been always strong CENTRAL Europe (Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire) and with a few decades of an "intermission" during the 20th century, Central Europe is playing its connecting role once again. Just like there's no homogenous Eastern Europe, there's no homogenous Western Europe either. Countries like Finland and Portugal have literally NOTHING in common! Geographically, historically, culturally or ethnically. In fact, SOUTHERN Europe with its enormous economic problems is a world on its own, completely different from, for example, Scandinavia. If anything, the division line of Europe goes via NORTH and SOUTH, not West and East like in the 20th century! And if Finland with its North-Eastern location right next to Russia can be called "Western Europe", then Czech Republic with its Central-Western location right next to Germany and Austria (and GDP per capita higher than Spain or Portugal) can be called "Western Europe" as well! 😎Only an absolutely ignorant and undereducated person can call Czech Republic a "developing country"! Check out any reliable sources (this is only one of them, obviously: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developing_country#/media/File:IMF_advanced_economies_and_UN_least_developed_countries.svg). The region of Bohemia/Czechia or today's Czech Republic has been highly developed and industrialized at least since the 19th century and prior the WW2 it was already one of the most developed and richest industrial areas in whole Europe and world (that's why Hitler needed it so much)! Not to mention that this part of Europe has always belonged to Central/Western Europe geographically and to WESTERN Europe culturally, religiously and politically (and four decades of the 20th century socialist/communist regime couldn't change that).

[@bukelos2804]

Frankly, the UN classifications of what is Eastern Europe and what is Western Europe should be changed and updated, because as you yourself wrongly said, many people then has a picture of them as 'developing post Soviet bloc countries', which they are certainly not nowadays.

[@danthebiker07]

It's important to note that a huge chunk of the economy is still unreported and hence both total GDP and GDP per capita figures will be lower than reality. In Romania, it is estimated that 25% of the economy is still happening behind the scenes with little to no tax paid. This is either due to unregulated businesses or local village economies in which people don't have jobs but do help the locals with day work duties such as house building, agricultural work, house maintenance and so on.

[@4tech404]

Coming from a romanian, it's actually quite impressive what we manage to acomplish despite a corrupt goverment, lack of infrastructure, massive brain drain, emigration and low birth rates. Still, I don't think we will not reach the west economy any time soon. At least not my generation.

[@Shadow-es1gk]

Don't be too harsh on yourself, Romania has come a long way in the last 30 years. My father was a truck driver in the 90s and when he traveled through Romania, he popped 2 tiers, said that Romanian roads were probably the worst roads he had ever driven on. Today, when we travel from Bulgaria to Germany, roads are now considerably better than Bulgaria, new houses are being built everywhere, it's quite impressive actually. Huge development can be seen. It's just sad that Bulgaria is falling considerably behind. Trust me, you might have corruption, but it probably doesn't even come close to what we have over here. Romania has jailed 100s of corrupt politicians in the last years. In Bulgaria, the number of jailed politicians is 0.

[@johnsmith-cw3wo]

@@Shadow-es1gk how many corrupt politicians did the MIGHY WEST jailed ? - oh wait there is no corruption in the MIGHY WEST.

[@omi685]

​@@johnsmith-cw3woThere is no country on earth corruption free.

[@johnsmith-cw3wo]

@@omi685 then where are all the corrupt politicians in the west jailed ? - not a politician, but I see Audi boss escape prison after ''dieselgate'' - that fkr did way more harm than someone stealing a car or something.

[@omi685]

@@johnsmith-cw3wo That's the thing, the systems are so corrupted in other countries that they walk away! Take a good, good look at the US and British politicians, for example, and you'll see plenty that deserve to be behind the bars.

[@PolishBlonde88]

The Poland is fastest growing country In Europe just after Ireland ;). Keep going Polska!

[@stuarttimocin7929]

Ireland lol

[@belstar1128]

Ireland is a tax haven now

[@Pawel_Mrozek]

2:00 USSR collapse in 1991. So not after but before collapse of USSR. This is important because Poland was the first country of the eastern block that overthrow communisms thanx to Solidarity Movement and Lech Walesa. This was the beginning of freedom that spread over the rest countries. Not the collapse of Berlin Wall or collapse of USSR that comes after that. 4:10 In 2004 not only Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary joined EU but also other east European countries like Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. 9:20 Romania is doing quite well, but despite everything, Poland is the clear IT leader in the region and has attracted many more companies than the other mentioned countries.

[@treideca44]

Source of the last sentence?

[@Pawel_Mrozek]

@@treideca44 This is not a question of who is better, but a simple fact resulting from that the Polish economy is twice as large as the Romanian one. In Poland, 586,000 people worked in ITC in 2021. Unfortunately, when I paste links, youtube deletes the post, but these are Eurostat data found in one Polish article. Poland is the sixth largest IT market after countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands and followed by Belgium, the Czech Republic and Sweden.

[@stefanaursulesei6104]

The quality of the internet in Romania has little to do with the government, which has been mostly incompetent, but with the free market. I've lived through the internet boom of Bucharest of the early 2000s, and the reason it has managed to grow so fast and so well was that every tech savvy boy every few blocks would start an internet provider business. The quality of STEM education did help, but it was merely a leftover from the communist times.

[@beniburek]

Very interesting video! Thanks a lot as always! Keep it up mate! 😄👌

[@Halford77]

I prefer the videos where you see graphics and videos instead of the presenter talking, but in general I quite like your channel!

[@dariusalexandru9536]

same

[@theadam7598]

Same, but graphics are time intensive and difficult to produce, so it's understandable.

[@Chris-ki2dx]

I'm the opposite, stock videos are often distracting and annoying to me, lol

[@robertbartosik9001]

As a Pole, I disagree that the current gdp per capita is 14k euro, last time I checked it was somewhere between 16k to 18k.

[@F12165]

Yeah the video's data seems a bit off. He says Slovakia's population is 4 million. Except Slovakia crossed the 5 million mark in 1981 and has not fallen since. 5.47 currently.

[@EUMadeSimple]

I used the Eurostat data and I just double checked. According to them it is 14600 euros per capita. But you are right, there are contradicting data sources.

[@EUMadeSimple]

Slovakia population - I am sorry about this mistake. I have put it in the description.

[@Nalesnik158]

@@EUMadeSimple Eurostat isn't objective. It is EU (Germans) datas. Eurostat is mistake about Poland too. You did also very big mistake to compare countries thanks to Eurostat... Not good man, not good! Poland is digital hub in Eastern EU zone thanks to Google cloud and many this kind of companies. Polish government has got own IT army, I mean an IT security army that creates, controls and secures all kinds of programs available to the entire Polish community. And there is plenty of it in almost every scientific field, from schools and universities to offices, banks and systems for companies and the Polish army. Poles use very little paper, except in the toilet. You faced a topic you have no idea about, because you can't believe that you can create things like in Si-Fi movies. But such things exist in Poland, you just had bad informants and you live in Western Europe, which makes it impossible for you to assess the reality thoroughly and objectively, so that you don't feel backward yourself, and this may be the case. There is no place for corruption in Poland - it is a phenomenon that is stigmatized and punished very severely, perceived by society as killing another person. By talking about corruption in Poland, you offended Poles.

[@dacian_1346]

Poland gdp per capita is 19.919$ in 2023

[@RobinTorrekensTravelVlog]

Another great video! Nice graphics and content. Nice to finally see you talking into the camera instead of only voice over! Did you use an apsc lens on a full frame body? 🙃 Keep up the good work, great youtube channel!! Glory to the E.U. 🙂

[@EUMadeSimple]

Much appreciated! No I just used my phone :)

[@SkyTechLover]

Another great video. About the Eastern Europe, If hasn't been done huge mistakes on the transition now they could have been even better.

[@GnosticAtheist]

I understand the logic for the term "eastern Europe" but it is annoying, since Poland is central Europe. Indeed, they are the most central point in Europe based on the continent map, if I am not mistaken. Since the Soviet Union is dead, it is annoying we still use the terminology, but I guess it makes sense historically. Eastern Europe would be Russian lands inside the continent, but these definitions are complicated geographically.

[@ursdaniel]

If you consider the Ural's as the limit of Europe, than România is in the center of Europe :)

[@cuginidifrancia94]

Because here we are talking about the European Union, not about Europe as a continent. Also because I point out that the westernmost point of the European Union is located in Saint Martin (Caribbean Sea), which makes Center EU in the Atlantic Ocean.😬

[@ursdaniel]

@@i.3683 ok, Vladimir. Stop the war!

[@GnosticAtheist]

@@ursdaniel Yes, I meant center region as opposed to eastern region, on a map. The exact location is also somewhat difficult to calculate as our continent does not look like a Midwestern American state...

[@GnosticAtheist]

@@cuginidifrancia94 Yes, your point about it being a political term is correct, but as my comment states, I find it annoying. I also find the color pink annoying. Pick a side, be white or red. Still, I am not fighting for the end of pinkness.

[@krej1243]

I think people call Poland eastern out of confusion, caused by it being trapped in eastern block. That's not eastern country though, it's a bridge between West and East

[@epsilonxvi5675]

they call it eastern europe because in the west they have stereotype that all poor european are east european and then when you ask them why they will say it's because of soviet.

[@krej1243]

@@epsilonxvi5675 XD

[@asasdsaasda]

The reason Poland is called eastern europe is because of the Iron Curtain, not because 'all poor europeans are eastern europeans'@@epsilonxvi5675

[@belstar1128]

The polish get very salty when people call them eastern because they don't want to be associated with Russia but there is no real central Europe culturally speaking

[@jackpl6306]

In Poland GDP per capita has grown 500% but within the GDP there is none product of Polish industry. Almost all GDP is in foreign hands. Result? High cost of living, low earnings. We are living in a country that is dying off because after 1989 we became a colony of cheap labor. Have a look on fertility rate. It is way below 2.1. Our nation is dying off because of well being? Someone is not telling the true story here...

[@user-ve8hx3qb9gfdgy]

The same is in Bulgaria, even worse. Western companies and countries drain our money, resources and young people.

[@Ascalonn88]

A few points: -None of the countries presented were part of the soviet union -GPD has no relevance on the quality of life -Eastern European countries did benefit from EU integration but lets not pretend EU did it because of the goodness of their heart. They wanted to expand the market, have access to cheap labour and maintain it cheap and of course, getting all the skilled people from those countries through immigration (Romania lost 4-5 mil people in 15 years). -Eastern European countries will never surpass Western European countries. Do you really think those countries will just roll over and let the east take over their industries, capital etc?

[@rekamud6635]

Yes of course, it is a punishment for them beeing on the wrong side of ww3.

[@CaptainConditor]

This is a key factor you mentioned. They will slow down once they come closer. It seems Poland is the only realistic option of those countries to come close enough.

[@piotrjasielski]

Poland will overtake Italy and UK within a decade. West is rotting, socialism and bad policies are killing them.

[@paul1979uk2000]

True, and as I pointed out in another post, the more they close the gap with western countries, the harder it's going to get to have high economic growth, it's far easier when starting at a lower level, especially when the blueprint is laid out in front of them, it becomes a lot harder as the gap closes and the tougher reforms are needed, usually the ones that are not as popular with the public or government. In any case, Poland is the only credible country that could be a big player, and mostly based on its population size which can give it some clout, the rest are just too small to have that big of an impact in taking on the big fish in the EU, and even Poland needs to be careful, bending and braking the EU rules isn't making Poland any friends, and if there is one thing the core EU countries know, you need friends onside to get things done in the EU. Poland if they are not careful, could end up being isolated in the EU by a lot of the other members, a bit like how Hungary is going, and to be powerful in the EU, you really do need to get along with a lot of other EU countries, whiles also being flexible when it comes to compromises, even smaller countries can be powerful in the EU with the right friends, but I feel that Hungary and Poland are setting themselves up for isolation, where I think it's already too late for Hungary, unless something major changes, whereas I think Poland can still be saved.

[@piotrjasielski]

@@paul1979uk2000 There are no friends in politics. EU is a failing project anyway. Macron had to already bend the knee to Poland because he realized it is the key to central and eastern europe. Others are starting to realize it too. Poland has backing of US and most of its neighbours. The power balance is shifting east, if EU doesn't realize they can no longer treat us as slaves and dictate everything, then they will fall.

[@raducarpinisianu2483]

​@@paul1979uk2000to me it's not about "taking on the big fish" but rather about finding common synergy and moving forward together as a continent. Big fish is China..or Russia even USA is an economic competitor. Keep the manufacturing inside EU.

[@covfefe1787]

@@paul1979uk2000 once Russia enters the EU the dynamic will change ;)

[@kookarini]

Even though you explain what you mean by "Eastern" Europe, Czechs absolutely hate being considered part of Eastern Europe.

[@dannyatthebeach]

Well done, mate! Apologies for taking so long to “watch later”, but ur new videos keep getting better! Keep it up, bro!! I keep telling others about ur channel. At the very least, I finish any of ur videos as an even more informed global citizen!!

[@EUMadeSimple]

Thanks Danny! Great to hear that you think the quality is improving :) And thanks for watching and recommending

[@marcomarco8210]

thanks a lot. it is very informative video. just 2 questions: why baltic countries have not been included and why lux is a net beneficiary if it is has the highest GDP per capita?

[@Poctyk]

"out of the €2.4 billion transferred to Luxembourg in 2020, €1.696 billion (the infamous "administrative costs") are used to finance institutions such as the European Court of Justice, the European Court of Auditors, and the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union." Basically Luxemburg hists a ton of EU institutions

[@spyrossrules]

Love your long form videos! Always super interesting

[@EUMadeSimple]

Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@tomaszfalkowski7508]

According to the most current IMF estimates, Poland is on track to become wealthier than the UK by 2030 but will also overtake every G7 nation except the US by 2040. Poland’s economy will economically overtake the UK by 2030 in terms of GDP per person, followed by France, Norway, the Netherlands and Germany by 2040. This shouldn’t be a surprise unless you haven't been following Poland’s economic success over the last 15-20 years with the exception to some late bloomers who are just starting to take notice. Poland’s gross domestic product is currently £28,200 compared with £35,000 in the United Kingdom. The average yearly growth rate in Poland is 3.6%. In the UK over the last decade or so it has been 0.5%. If those trends continue, in about five years the average Pole will inevitably become wealthier than the average Brit. The IMF forecast also showed that Poland’s GDP in 2023 will reach $748.9 billion. China will be at the top of the pyramid with $19 trillion dollars, and the largest economy in Europe is still set to be Germany with a GDP of $4.3 trillion dollars. Poland’s GDP is forecast to reach $1 trillion in 2028.

[@KlaatuZu]

So you just project current growth rates indefinitely and ignore the relative size of economies, while also forgetting to account for the middle income trap among many other variables pertinent to late bloomers? Good job sir, I'm sure you will not be disappointed 💪

[@tyhaas3w]

Ekstrapolating economic trends is most idiot think that people do.

[@Bsuzj]

You forgot about inflation in Poland. The highest inflation rate in the EU. So nah, that b*shit

[@Bsuzj]

@@codmobile673 no it will not. Poland can’t even surpass the Netherlands

[@thorspoczta4436]

From economical point of view faster because we dont need to pay by bread 5 euro but 0,5.

[@AmandaHugandKiss411]

This was an fantastic video. Very informative. I have subscribed.

[@ifrimvictor]

very well documented material. hats off!

[@Sasha.traveller]

Hungary is not in Eastern Europe, it's in Central Europe!

[@bca-biciclindcuaxel7527]

All those countries from the thumbnail are freaking CENTRAL EUROPE. Europe ends at Ural Mountains in the East. Geographically, Europe starts at 10 degrees W and ends at 60 degrees E. The mid point is meridian E 25, which incidentally crosses right through central Romania. Saying Romania is ''Eastern Europe '' in 2023 is pure ignorance !

[@dayana1269]

Like all other here for fcks sake

[@ursdaniel]

This is one of my favourite channel on KZbin. Thats why I ve subscrieb.

[@duprog]

The main reason for the remarkable growth was to low point at which they started. After many years of stagnation under the old regime, it was obvious that the growth would be over par for sometime. The second reason, the money exit from the east to regime that were more favorable to investors of any kind. Eastern companies moved their factories west to take advantage of cheap labour and favorable tax consideration. Now that labour is going to start demanding fair compensation and less corruption in their government, expect growth to slow considerably. Another concern for those countries is the diminishing Germain capability to fund their development. Germany was the main provider of the necessary money to achieve their development. Now that Germany itself is facing major problems, they will have to manage the outflow of money and jobs more carefully.

[@kpharck]

Sir, you disinform. The EU pays so called structural subventions in exchange for the beneficiaries to open their markets to stronger competitors from the West, who greatly benefit from this process. Case in point - the supermarket chain you mentioned no longer exists, replaced by French and German megacorporations. French Auchan, Carrefour, German Lidl, Kaufland, Roseman control almost the whole of Polish grocery markets.

[@piotrkijak1774]

It's insane how much time passed and the countries are closing in for example my nation Poland had Nominal GDP in 2000 - 172,2 billion it is expected to reach 1 trillion (first Eastern European Continental Economy to enter such numbers) by 2028 literally 10x

[@tyhaas3w]

172 and 1000 is less than 6x not 10x.

[@piotrkijak1774]

@@tyhaas3w I mean true but its still insane growth from 100B

[@nmiss8005]

В 2000 ВВП России 278 млр долларов, В 2022 2,2 трл долларов(почти в 10 раз). Похожая динамика.... А ВВП США 2000 год 10,2 трл долларов, в 2022 году 25,46 трл.долларов. ВВП Франции 2000- 1,4 млр долларов, 2,78 млр.долларов. Развивающиеся страны развиваются быстрее, чем уже развитые. ВВП Индии 2000-476 млр., в 2022 -3,4 трл.

[@eugeneshebeko4187]

3:15 It's not the Poland, it's Russia or maybe even USSR. Text on board in russian: "Bread it's not the only gift of nature, bread it's our labor. Don't forget this. So take care of our caravaj". Caravaj is some sort of traditional bread in Russia. 3:20 picture is the symbol of Olympic game in Moscow in 1980. I'm pretty sure it's a Soviet-Union Moscow. You have to be better prepared choosing footage for the video.

[@ragnargrabson1287]

Poland has the highest number of IT professionals - just to be precise. An the number is growing due to influx of Ukrainian and Belorussian IT pros.

[@salimtaqi1080]

Very very informative. Excellent analysis. Very well done

[@novvak168]

Amazing work!!!!!!! The wait was more than worth it, I think this is my new favorite EU made simple video. You covered so much and I love how you used relevant examples from every Eastern European country!!!! Also, the video quality is better than before. I am very interested in this topic ( being non EU Eastern Europen) and I've watched many videos covering the economics of Eastern Europe. This is by far the best one. If this is the new channel strategy then I can't wait to see what comes next.

[@EUMadeSimple]

Thanks Novvak. Glad you liked it :) yes we tried to include every country in the analysis. Of course there is a lot more information that we could have gone into :).

[@lazywanderer]

Nice video, you did your research. However, there are some mistakes and omissions. E.g. Slovakia has 5.4 mil population, not 4. And as for East catching up with the West, you are right that it's not going to happen any time soon economically, however, its political weight increases significantly due to the war in Ukraine.

[@martynasg9652]

Hey. Loved the video. Even though I’m from Lithuania and I do strongly agree with the Baltic states being Northern European but I expected to see all former Warsaw pact/ex soviet countries in this video. I think you should do a video of the rapid change of the Baltic states. Since the baltic states were called the “baltic tigers” economically for a while and nowadays Estonia and Lithuania having large start-ups. Lithuania is building the largest tech campus in the EU right now and is trying to be the Silicon Valley of Europe.

[@EUMadeSimple]

It is a good idea. If this video does well and there is demand I could deep dive into the three Baltic States :)

[@vaivasalte4941]

I just wanted to comment that too, because earlier Baltic countries were regarded as Eastern Europe (I also agree there more Northern Europe regarding the mentality), but as a former soviet republics and now democracies, it would really interesting to see the video about them :)

[@Born2Prank1]

Nothern Europe? Largest tech campus in EU? Looooooooooool

[@vaivasalte4941]

@@Born2Prank1 what's your problem man? Are you from russia, hungary or serbia? :D

[@Born2Prank1]

@@vaivasalte4941 Denmark, eastern Europe Xddddd

[@Leyfandir]

Very interesting, however please make sure that all your figures have comprehensive legend. As an example, we do not know what is the unit used in the "EU net beneficiaries in 2021" table. Is it absolute multiplicators or is it a per capita value?

[@XxeXcEnZexX]

I find in Bucharest a lot of westerners working remotely or opening small businesses here. Also I see a big growth in immigration from Asia and turists, the same as Germany in early 2000.

[@SebastianDavidPB]

because that's the only place in this hellhole called romania where the money flows

[@pincermovement72]

Yes the eu likes none white immigrants, more the merrier .

[@annainbudapest1261]

I left canada to retire in hungary best decision ever

[@aronbijl4109]

Üdv. magyarórszágba :)

[@dayana1269]

Welcome ❤

[@annainbudapest1261]

@@dayana1269 I do have hungarian citizenship which helps

[@belstar1128]

I don't think you expected that when you were young lol .

[@chillyboy2008]

in Romania we live at the poverty limit, our minimum salary is 350 euros net, medium salary is 700 euros, and whos lucky at multinationals 1000-2000 euros, buuuuuut take in the account that everything is 10-20% more expensive than the western countries,everything!

[@popularmisconception1]

All in all this is not so surprising, given the fact the between the World wars, Czechoslovakia was cca 10th country in the world in terms of GDP per capita and other post-Austria-Hungary countries were in a comparable position. This region has been slowed down by the WWII and subsequent socialist totalitarianism, especially after 1970. But they're not as backwards as Russia, they're just getting back on track.

[@radoslavzatovic8489]

Stupid propaganda of Czech and Slovak pro-Western populists, who blame the USSR for their incompetence. According to data from 1929, GDP per capita in Czechoslovak was at the level of 5704 dollars, which meant that Czechoslovakia was worse than Austria ($6413) or Hungary ($6024). The level of Germany at that time was 8184 dollars. In the same period, the USA's GDP almost doubled. The only neighboring countries that had a stronger economy than Czechoslovakia were Poland and Romania (souurce: Maddison Project Database 2018)

[@ncuco]

Really great video. I just think a more fare comparison would be Eastern European countries, with southern countries

[@vladbucur5563]

The eastern EU counties will soon hit the problem of the middle income trap and demographic decline. It's not quite as rosy as it seems. As a romanian millenial I can see how far our country has come, but we are not rich by any means.

[@Aggoenix]

Demographic decline is already a struggle here for a decade or so. Didnt Romania, Bulgaria and Baltics loose like 1/3 of productive population by migration and Hungary and Croatia like 1/4? As far as i have seen the only two countries that grew population in last 20 years were Slovenia and Czechia, Slovakia didnt gain or loose, but mainly by migration, they have only a slightly bit higher rate of average births. Its just the economic core of the EU stretches from Netherlands to northern Italy, between western Germany ending somewhere around Czech Republic, maybe some part of Poland too. It was called blue banana in economy, it just moved a little bit more east so a lot of people are saying Poland and Czechia swapped for France. This region became the engine of EU economy attracting workers. Portugal, Spain, Greece, Bulgaria are seen as outskirts where its hard to bring something to. There are exceptions like Finland or Estonia, those are also outskirts but they managed to go into digital and IT and actually turn of this geographic disadvantage.

[@MrToradragon]

I believe that Czechia is already in that trap and atop of that we have still growing public sector (although judging by simple number of employees is misleading as teachers are included in it as well and I personally know at least 2 people who do it for fun few hours a week, yes they teach IT) and unreformed pension system, already declining workforce (native workforce had declined by roughly 600k in last , sadly I do not know how many of those jobs were filled by people from other countries) and real estate bubble. And due to terrible policies of two previous governments economy still did not recover to pre-pandemic levels nor the growth had resumed. Something must happen or Czechia, it's younger people, basically anyone under 40, is screwed.

[@Aggoenix]

@@MrToradragon Right now i dont have time to browse statistics but i have seen that the public sector ammount is still much smaller to many western european countries. I think it will decrease naturally, because there are more jobs in CZ than people in private sector and with development of a new techs public services will get automatized anyway - even it automat. and digit. isnt so rapid here in CZ . Also the pension system reform literally happens now, increase in the age system and some cuts and decrease of high pension adds and increase of lower pension adds. I think we tend to be overly negativistic, but Czech golden age i believe is here and will remain for some upcoming decade or two, while many western european countries like France or UK had their "golden age" already and their prospects for the future are more worrying. The economic core of the EU is shifting more towards central-eastern Europe and the northern for sure. I believe the german core engine is expanding also to Poland and Czechia, Netherlands while countries like France, Italy and maybe even Sweden are kinda dropping out from the core.

[@MrToradragon]

@@Aggoenix I don't think that there is any chance that the public sector in CZ will shrink naturally, as it was expanding and, to be frank I do not have numbers for last two years, is most likely expanding even now. For example police force is (was) oversized by several thousand (but with current situation in Europe it would not bee good idea to cut in that beside some streamlining of office jobs), yet they claim they do not have enough policemen. (Then they must do something wrong, honestly) Moving pension age is not pension reform at all, it is just tweaking the parametres of very broken system that is in fact ponzi scheme, while it was perhaps suitable measure in 90's it is already highly problematic. By year 2035 number of pensioners will roughly double compared to 2011 and just to keep same load on working population as in 2019, the system will need additional 700k man-years by 2060, by 2035 only about 300k man-years. And at that time, the load was still roughly 1.5 that of in 2001. That system must be significantly overhauled as maybe it would be possible to find 300k man-years by 2035, I highly doubt that it could find additional 400k man-years by 2060. My estimate is that by changes of pension age and other things it could get additional 400k man-years at best, but all changes must take effect before 2035 to have positive effect, in other words, changes must impact strongest demographics in Czech population. Other quite huge problem is that while western Europe was able to keep price of housing in it's cities roughly stagnant over last decade (compared to average wage), in Czechia this price had almost doubled, according to numbeo. That is big problem. And unless that is fixed together with issues in school system, there will be no golden age as it puts, together with increasing number of pensioners greater and greater burden on working age population, which in the return will disincentivize people from having children or living here (maybe they will just move and boost some other EU country or other developed country) and will prevent them from amassing finances needed to start their own businesses which will certainly not be good for economy nor arrival off golden age. Not to mention poor state of transport infrastructure and upcoming problems with energy supplies.

[@zenongruba2607]

It was Poland that doomed the Berlin wall. The Poles have always had it tough. The USSR robbed Poland without conscience. No USSR. Poland unleashed a hungry lean mean ambition to succeed.

[@jannetteberends8730]

That the Eastern European countries grew faster is normal according to economic growth models, like the Solow model. Growth functions are slowing down after some time. And come in a steady state growth rate.

[@kimovkimov1304]

With the exchange of a planned economy to a capitalist, free market, it is normal for the Eastern economies to "catch-up" in some sense. But we must not forget the massive immigration which has occurred since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bulgaria has lost roughly 25% of its population, which has moved to western countries and had their economic impact there.

[@alexsamu9787]

God bless Eastern Europe. We had enough of communism. Now a new era is coming and the sun is shining on our sky.

[@nemos9856]

People often forget that central european countries already had good infrastructure and market before communism so they just stopped the progres and now rising again

[@ladrok97]

Yeah, Poland in 1938 was wealther than Spain (calculated in GDP and GDP per capita of course)

[@Krzysztof.004]

XD Actually not. Polish infrastructure in 1930s was terrible, especially when it comes to roads or housing. Electricity, toilets in houses (which were mostly made of wood or even worse material btw) weren't common too. Also, don't forget IIWW, and how much and how badly it affected Polish lands... Vast majority of Polish cities got destroyed, population descreased drastically. In fact millions of people improved their life standards during communism period. Our infrastructure improved too. What's even more fascinating we're still using buildings built in 1970 like schools, hospitals, roads, tram lanes (theese were obviously renovated many times) and blocks of flats. Our 'commie block' neighbourhoods are pretty liveable, walkable and accesible via public transit, which makes them better than modern apartaments. Pls stop spreading stupid, biased talking points about Poland (and whole Eastern Block) and how 'CoMmuNism DesTroyed' it.

[@holandreas]

No better way to overtake someone than to lose millions of your population to them and spend significantly more on your military. The east has grown more, not in spite of, but because of its rough position 30 years ago. The billions pumped into the east by the west also helps.

[@kimlaursen8224]

Great video. Didn't have time to answer to your feedback feed; - but would say videos between 6-12 minutes would be ideal - To create more activity and debate on your channel, it would be great if you could publish polls and quizzes on your profile to keep the activity going, when you're in bewtween making new videoes - Would prefer videos with audio only explaining the topic. It is not necessary for me to have a person in it Looking forward to 40.000 subscribers🇪🇺! Congratulations

[@EUMadeSimple]

Thanks Kim . I agree that this video was slightly too long. It was over 20 minutes initially haha. Yes i think polls and questions are a good idea. Will try to do more :). I prefer animation over my face too hahha. But animation is sooo much effort and expensive. For longer videos i need to do a mix :). Haha almost at 40k now 🎉🎉

[@catalindeluxus8545]

I like seeing the face behind the voice

[@kimlaursen8224]

@@EUMadeSimple No problem. The videos are gonna be good anyways, so no need to worry😉

[@EUMadeSimple]

@kimlaursen8224 I released a poll without Fiscal Union and Federal EU model like the US, Germany or CH.... I know i promised... BUT - Fiscal Union is planned for next week friday :). And Federal Model for later this year. So your videos are coming ;)

[@kimlaursen8224]

@@EUMadeSimple Great job! thank you so much. I’ll be looking forward to it🙌🏼🤩! And congratulations with 40k subscribers! Looking forward to 50k🎉! You’re doing a great job😉🇩🇰🇪🇺

[@CM73878]

As eastern countries wages rise towards the levels of Western Europe they will become much less attractive places to invest. The majority of big investments are being made in Eastern Europe by international not local firms, who will choose the country offering the lowest wages or incentives. There is bound to be a rebalancing but any idea that Eastern Europe will somehow overtake “Western Europe” (and by this I really mean Germany, the Netherlands, France, Sweden and Finland) is extremely unlikely.

[@drakulkacz6489]

Since all of them don´t like the idea of that. They need the low cost for their products made there.

[@user-wt6rd9bu8j]

So the multinationals will move to west Europe and pay even more???

[@cuginidifrancia94]

I'm happy to see you (literally)😀

[@sniperman3110]

It will certainly catch up to Western Europe but overtaking will be hard. What determines the power of a European nation? Geography and population. Lets make an analysis: 1) Southern Europe Has a very bleak future. The once very wealthy nations of Spain, Greece, Portugal, and other mediterrainian nations are kinda locked in. They were very dependent on the ancient Europe that stretched into Africa. They were strategic countries between Africa and Europe. This transition plus their relative population made them powerful. As long as Africa and the Middle East are basically destroyed they will keep their wealth on their current level, with pensions and money secured as long as they stay in the Union, but to rise to former glory like during Rome, they need to revive all the economies around the mediterrainian sea. 2) Western Europe (UK, Ireland, France) Actually there we need to do separate analysis between the islands and France. France will remain powerful, also worldwide. France still has a lot of overseas territories that will become increasingly popular as soon as the EU discovers geopolitical ambitions, in addition it has a large population and very deep ties to the core industry of Germany. Frances power will be political in nature, not such much economical. Ireland will remain on their level. They have a natural disadvantage when it comes to population and geography when it comes to open competition, but the Irish have made a good deal with the EU and their ingenuity politically will keep them prosperous. (it has a massive GDP per capita). The UK is pretty much an unknown future. Hard to say. Brexit? Rejoin? IndyRef? So many variables. Any analysis would be no much more worth than a guess. 3) Nordic Nations Not much to say there, they know they are directly dependent on their connection to the continent and their internal policy. As long is there is no major upheaval in either not much will change. Population is very low, that is why they need to work together to represent their interests. A turn against migration will probably follow, otherwise their are making major infrastructure projects to connect the flow into the continent which is key for their prosperity. They will continue to be rich and relatively quit and happy. 4) Central Europe Better called Central EU. I call that Netherland, Belgium, Germany, Western Poland, Czekia, Austria, Slovenia, Luxembourg. --Eastern Poland cannot be central because it as an EU border with no influx of goods and people (at least desired once). --Netherland and Belgium have huge population for such a small region and provide a very route between France and Germany, imagine it like curvature space, where straight lines are not the shortest path, thereby connecting around 120 m people. --Slovenia is a curvature country between eastern and souther and Central Europe, huge geographical benefit! --Austria, Czekia, Germany are completely immersed and are true central EU These countries will rise regardless because they connect East and West, North and South. You remove these countries you do not have a Europe anymore, then it would become more like Oceania. Also population is huge in Central Europe. As long as the Union holds and no border arises these countries will automatically benefit, no matter the economic downfall due to Russian resources, they will all recover in time. Once Ukraine joins Slovakia and Hungary will join these countries, probably not to the extent like Germany or Western Poland but they will certainly benefit hugely. The biggest threat to them is splitting the Union, that is why you see European federalism emerge there, like in western Poland, Germany, Netherlands and so on. Should Scotland join, the old influence of Netherlands on the sea will reemerge. Between these countries the groups with the most people will dominate, the most homogenous groups will lead the research and consumption, the more likeminded these regions become the more they will rule Europe for now. 5) Eastern EU Baltics, Eastern Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia +former Yugoslavia region Hungary and Slovakia are already covered above, they are a border countries which will rise by further EU expansion. Hungary will hugely benefit when Romania and Bulgaria join Schengen and euro this year. Slovakia when Ukraine and Moldova join. Eastern Poland and Baltics will be somewhat limited. Baltics can prosper by connecting Nordics via Poland to the continent. eastern Poland will remain poor, because they will remain a hard border country with Belarus for the foreseeable future. South eastern Poland will benefit from Ukraine joining. The former Yugoslavia countries that are not currently in the EU have a problem with Serbia, once all 6 balkan countries join they can connect southern to Central Europe and prosper. Croatia is already on the right path and will benefit once the neighbors to its east and south join the EU, Croatia will lead this region for the next decade, until Serbia with its 6m people is fully integrated and has catched up to the west. Bulgaria and Romania are border countries. To their south not much can be expected from turkey under Erdogan, once turkey becomes liberal if it ever should, they would benefit massively. You can imagine these countries as the Istanbul of countries connecting Europe and Asia. You have to go through these countries if you want to go by land. But for them it is not bleak even as border countries. Both will join Schengen and euro this year or during the next year and they are on the Black Sea. As the EU awake geopolitically this sea will be of much importance, also to connect the caucasus region. They should invest into their harbors. _______________________ I hope I have not forgotten your country dear reader and I am ready to discuss.

[@sniperman3110]

@@jakelittle1261 Austerity has to do with the relationship with the US. There are fundamental contracts within the west. Only a few nations have the power to negotiate that. That heavenly depends on the transnational neoliberalisms and libertarians. That is a fundamental philosophical view that is widely shared.

[@Siranoxz]

@@jakelittle1261 These countries thrive because of the EU.

[@user-ki4llalm6kr]

Crock of shlt. Who are you to give such detailed information on how to perceive countries in the EU and what their current state and future is? Mr. Nobody knowitall😂😂 same goes for the uploader of this vid.

[@loloutplays5232]

As a romanian i can say that what you are talking about it is not true. That are just numbers, ofcourse eastern europe is doing better than in the past, but if you live there, you will see that there are a lot of gaps.Educational system is down with a rate of 50%+ of functional illiteracy.Corruption and bureaucracy everywhere, you need to bribe the institutions for almost every aspect, also we are not that good at digitalization.Eastern europe will have a good time for some decades, then will go back again during demographics problems and political stagnation.

[@sniperman3110]

@@loloutplays5232 Should the ancient trade routes get revived, trade and traders will have its way. Things can change very quickly. These trade routes would just overrun the corrupt individuals in Eastern Europe and force them to change. The money will have its way as soon as it starts flowing, that is the otherwise of corruption. It can go both ways

[@sobkowiaklucas]

Poland will not take over Germany in economic measure but it will definitely compete and will a a economic force to be reckon with . Considering that only china has bigger economic exchange with Germany than Poland and not by that much.

[@RR-vk2tl]

As a software engineer I moved from Germany to Poland. Here I earn more money, people in Poland are nicer, and less bureaucracy.

[@oliwierbroda2575]

​@@RR-vk2tloh that is true Germany for some reason has paralyzing bureaucracy. I often forget about that.

[@PolishBlonde88]

Of course we will take over Germany ;) we will Soak them like good beer!

[@adammichalec1356]

Poland will take over Germany economy soon

[@Enyavar1]

Ahem. The main reason why a small economy can grow much faster than a larger economy, is usually because the smaller one has been _small_ and that should have been the first bullet point not one of the last ones. That is how "small" China has achieved 15% growth rates in the 1990s... but cannot maintain that rate any longer now that they're big in business. I welcome the idea that Central-Eastern Europe grows to the point to compete with the Western neighbours. But an _overtaking_ is not within sight. If Serbia starts to integrate, we could have an integrated Danube economic region, which would be _great_ for Eastern growth. But even then I don't see it.

[@olezhastanislavich8818]

Thanks a lot!

[@EUMadeSimple]

Olezha thank you! Really appreciate the support! This will help us grow :)

[@danielbirchfield8552]

Love the longer video

[@Neran12100]

Thanks for this very interesting video!

[@EUMadeSimple]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@UnipornFrumm]

Yo...as a romania,when i was a kid i did got a free computer from that gov program, it was not the best, but at that time it was a decent computer, and yeah,i was pretty poor

[@maxmachac9756]

Ive said it once, and ill say it again. Slovakia is central Europe, not Eastern. We are quite litteraly in the geographical centre of Europe

[@BPedo8IGHT]

What year is the GDP per Capita numbers from? In 2022, the top three were Luxemberg, Ireland, and Denmark.

[@thisperson1654]

And suddenly 1,5 million Slovaks died overnight. Slovakia have 5,5 M citizens. Yes it is over 4M ...

[@EUMadeSimple]

I know. Apologies. Put it into the description

[@MotiejusImpolevicius]

If you added comparisons to the baltics the stark differences between 90’s and 20’s would be even more astonishing. While they can’t match these countries by size and population the bottom where it all had to start with planned economy and the progress they’ve done is astonishing. Thats not to say that the warsaw block countries had smaller progress its amazing in its own right.

[@antanassmetona4054]

he doesn't add the baltics because the video is about eastern europe. baltics arent eastern.

[@cheeseflavoredsoda3262]

Also, baltics put togheter are like 5 million people.

[@nieczerwony]

​@@antanassmetona4054Off course they are. In cultural and historical terms they are Eastern Europe.

[@antanassmetona4054]

@@nieczerwony No, in cultural and historical and geographical terms they're northern european. You clearly don't have enough braincells to talk about this topic.

[@macius04]

Greetings from Poland 🇵🇱

[@anonym4867]

8:59 i wouldn't count Škoda as foreign direct investment but i now what u mean with it because VW invested. And you could have also put Hyundai there but verry nice Video good Job

[@TangoNuevoTV]

Some informations in the video are misleading. In fact, the Balcerowicz Plan was implemented in Poland almost two years before the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union. The final downfall of the Soviet empire was a result of the central European countries breaking free from communist rule, not its cause.

[@chrisperkins7331]

I would call this simplistic, as it misses a few important points. First if you go from a state owned economy to a capatilist one, it is bound to increase GDP. State owned companies dont make a profit where as Capitalist ones do.. More GDP does not nescesrily improve the live of ordinary people as those profits are paid by them for the same goods. Masive increases in rents and the cost of serviceses has helped increase the wealth gap that is growing in the west. The east my well overtake the west but in a way that makes life harder not better.

[@sbcenk]

Great video! But as a Hungarian I felt such cringe when you brought up 2004-2008 period as an example like never before. One of the reason for those positive numbers was the rapid rise of the minimum wage in the public sector, which resulted in a huge budget deficit just a few years down the line. By the time the 2008 financial crisis hit we were already in huge trouble and things just got worse... It is basically also the period that Orban keeps pointing back to as an example of bad governance by his opponents, which is enough to keep him in power indefinitely...

[@EUMadeSimple]

Oh - I should have looked into that more. Thanks for the information and sorry for the oversight.

[@123_1]

True, but Orban did almost the same recent years, qunatitative easing by cenral bank, expansive fiscal policy, ease credit conditions pushed up GDP, but this is just virtual because spending went into bad investments, bubbles and fuelled inflation. Now we are in recession and inflation is 2nd highest in Europe after failed state Turkey, 4 times higher than EU avarage. And Orban is in power not only because he can point back to 15 years ago, but also because he created a new constitution, hacked the election system, filled up state administration with his own men, ran over media... etc., basically finished off the rule of law as a whole... This is basically a dictatorship with some democratic salt, no wonder he can stay in power... BTW, he is governing with decree since 2015 as threre is continous emergency legislation on various grounds since then... Hungarian democracy is a joke...

[@JamesBond-fu3hx]

@@123_1 Orbán is in power because the opposition is unfit to govern. To explain this with the situation of Hungarian democracy is just to smear things. GDP growth is not a bubble, but very real, just as the one million more workers is very real. High inflation is inherent in a high-pressure economy. The current one is really too high, but let's look at it in half a year. By the way, the Turkish economy is growing amazingly, mainly because of domestic startups, but they forget to mention this when they are surprised that Erdogan won the election again.

[@123_1]

@@JamesBond-fu3hx "Orbán is in power because the opposition is unfit to govern." - Yes and no. Opposition is unfit because Orban has absolut power and does everything to weaken the opposition and to have an unfit opposition to keep away more potent alternatives... He once said: "We have to win only once, but then win big" - and he kept the word: he won absolute majority and demolished the rule of law to stay in power indefinitely. Some inflation os benifitial for aconomy but high inflation has higyh costs! GDP growth is indeed a bubble: before the election billions of forint were puhsed out, everything seemd bright, and see what is happening now: consumption collapsed, budget deficit and govermnent debt is high and growing. Hungary is not capable to produce real value witout EU money... Thats the reality that proves it was a virtual GDP growth !

[@123_1]

@@JamesBond-fu3hx "high pressure economy" - this is just an other word for a big irresponsible scam

[@adrianhudek9111]

Well. As slovakian citizen, I want to make small correction. Slovakia does nit have population of 4 mln but 5,5 mln.

[@ANDR0iD]

Can you make a video on how net beneficiaries are calculated? What does it mean exactly?

[@Poctyk]

All countries pay a bit to EU budget. EU then finances things. Those that have more stuff being paid by the EU then they paid into budget are net benefciary

[@paulbenedict1289]

Net beneficiaries are German and French banks that those countries pay interest on loans given by EU, which are far greater than those, so called, net benefits.

[@zeara7692]

i think it also has something to do with them not being woke

[@robertheinrich2994]

what made yugoslavia not east? especially since slovenia and croatia are considered west, even when these two countries did not exist back then. extra question: why is germany still divided in west and east and czechoslovakia divided into czechia and slovakia? the german reunion happened before yugoslavia collapsed and before czechoslovakia was split into two. so this map makes no sense.

[@ruzicas.5819]

Im from Croatia. We in ex Yugoslavia are our own category, not east, not west. 😂 Really, yugoslavia wasn't behind iron curtain, we have big tourism in Croatia and we were open and were able to travel and work in other developed countries long before fall of berlin wall.

[@robertheinrich2994]

@@ruzicas.5819 yes, true. reminds me of the camping trips my parents did. travelling through yugoslavia to greece with the caravan. this was also when I was introduced to the concept of inflation: the ride down to greece: there will be a 1 million dinar bill. ride back home: refueled the BMW and paid with a 2 million dinar bill. or a few years earlier: holidays in southern styria, in a winery (tement): nice outdoor veranda, and 100m south of it was the border to yugoslavia, and at least no visible protection to prevent somebody to cross this border. oh, and to get to this vinyard, you actually had to drive on a road that was 50% on yugoslavian side. it still is, it's just slovenia now. but in this video: the weird part was that there is a map in the beginning that shows a divided germany, and yet it shows a divided czechoslovaka and the various balkan countries. since this did not happen at the same time, the map is just a fiction. so, greeting from austria (currently vienna, but styria at heart).

[@ermengardalombardi906]

Yugowhat ???

[@janvandergeert8680]

The countries of the former Yugoslavia are classified as East I think for two reasons: 1) They had been socialist states, though not part of the Warsaw Pact. 3) We are excluding Russia here, so these countries are relatively to the east.

[@robertheinrich2994]

@@ermengardalombardi906 formerly, the SHS state/country and then split up into slovenia, croatia, bosnia-herzegowina, serbia, montenegro and north macedonia (formerly macedonia, but greece was pissed because of that name) and kosovo. the country, where in the 90ties no US stealthbomber was shot down and no US stealthbomber remains can be seen in a museum. oh, and never forget albania, but they were seperate from yugoslavia. aren't people learning anything about geography nowadays? at least slovenia should be known. some blond dude imported his third wife from there and made her a first lady.

[@dannyc2488]

The Baltic States are also part of the former Eastern Block. Estonia's development has been extraordinary.

[@user-ye1wb2zn6v]

Slovakia has 5.5M population btw :D

[@EUMadeSimple]

I know. Sorry. In the description I mentioned the mistake.

[@user-ye1wb2zn6v]

@@EUMadeSimple Its okay :D

[@neatunet]

I'm from Ukraine, and we share many similarities with other Eastern European countries. While we may not have reached the same level of success as Poland or Czechia yet, we are making progress in the right direction. The decentralization reform has had a positive impact on the economic growth of local communities. Previously, the majority of tax money went directly to the central government, which then distributed the funds among the regions. However, after the reform, local communities can now allocate their money more efficiently. Additionally, the IT industry has experienced tremendous growth in the last 10-15 years. It currently contributes more than 5% of GDP and over 10% of the total exports. Most importantly, the IT industry provides high-paying jobs to many people and drives economic growth. Ukraine has become home to many famous startups, including Grammarly, Preply, Ajax, Firefly Aerospace, and more. Furthermore, Ukrainians have been able to travel to Europe without visas since 2017, which has helped in developing connections with Europe and Europeans. The younger generation has a good command of foreign languages, and we have access to excellent education. Despite the challenges we face and the ongoing war with terrorist rUSSIA, we are determined to become a prosperous and affluent country and aspire to be a member of the European Union. We believe that one day we will achieve our goal!

[@supermechi]

Old Europe (not Ukraine's false friendly Eastern State) are just waiting for the war to stop for make Billion of money in Ukraine, but except for the Poland side of Ukraine (old Leopoli) is difficult that these investment will really push people life or the real economy. Europe demand money and cheap labour from Ukraine keeping it on the edge. They will call they own specialist for doing infrastructure, expensive that afterwar might not be the priority, as even if now Ukraine received more than the entire Marshall plan this will not relief the situation unless major profit lost... and no one want to lost profit right?

[@vkubred]

Seems that someone hasn't yet understood that there's no "Poland's side of Ukraine", "russia's side of Ukraine" etc, etc. Doing all the job possible to explain that to ruzzians, but, as we can see from your message, still have a lot of work to do with "Old Europe"

[@ki5739]

What's your source for the GDP and GDP per capita data? The GDP of Bulgaria is indeed 84 bln (2021) but the population is 6.8 mln, which should result in approx 12 400 GDP per capita.

[@paul1979uk2000]

Simply answer, no. What's likely to happen is like-minded countries group together on specific things of interest to them, that blurs the lines from west to east, in other words, there is no west and east, there's only self-interest, and that is different on a country to country basis. In other words, some like to make a divide between west and east, and to a degree, there is one, but that line will become a lot more blurred as the eastern countries catch up with the western countries and with that, countries will group together with countries that have shared interest on any given interest, regardless of west and east. In fact, we already see part of that today, it's likely going to become more the case as the eastern countries catch up with the western countries, then each country, west or east, will lobby for what's in their interest, and group with countries that share that interest, that's where the lines blur from west and east. The truth is, there is no west and east in the EU, there's only shared interest, it's some in the media and some people that want to create a division, but the reality is, whether west or east, all the countries in the EU want to try and improve things, move forward and find agreements at an EU level, it's not perfect, but that's part of having so many countries and people, there are bound to be division, but they usually always find a way forward, even if it means watering things down. So enough with this division thing, it's a narrative that some in the media and some groups of people want to happen, with the aim of creating problems. With all that said, there are problems, the veto rules need to go, the more members in a union, the more problematic the veto rules become, and that has nothing to do with west or east, it's simply to do with numbers, the more there are, the more likely the veto is to be used to block things, and this is why major treaty reforms are needed, especially before the EU can bring in any new countries, because it would become worse with more countries in the union if we still have the veto rule.

[@morro7954]

8:43 We have 5.5 million population not 4 million💀