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In other news, belated congratulations to Bulgaria and Romania on joining the big happy EU family, and to Slovenia for adopting the Euro. It's easy for this sort of thing to slip by, since the EU has developed the astonishing ability to be invisible in plain sight by adopting a cunning camouflage of extreme dullness. Personally, I blame the economic thing. That and the Common Agricultural Policy. Between sugar beets, French cows and legislation about numbers, minds (well at least my tiny one) just kind of skid over its existence, and so far the troupes of well-choreographed ribbon dancers bouncing along to a re-orchestrated version of "Ode to Joy" have yet to change my mind.
On the home front, the Bulgarian correspondant advises that so far the price of petrol has gone up significantly, but fears that the special Bulgarian milk will vanish are so far unfounded. Her Slovenian counterpart confirms that prices have gone up universally, and is grumbling about greedy merchants and the lack of decent toothpaste.
A slight digression: apparently the growth of the EU is less good for its language policy. Whereas previously, major documentation had to be translated into all of the 23 official languages (including Irish), and minor into a pre-defined selection, the translation fees are now getting so expensive that people are just defaulting to... English. At least, so says the Economist.
2 comments:
Grand Duchess -
In these parts, where the British plumbers and builders are either unemployed or redeployed working in call centres or branches of PC World, the Polish labourer is king. However, even they are quaking in their standard-order construction boots because having under-cut everyone here, they are terrified they are about to suffer the same treatment at the hand of of the hungrier, leaner Bulgarians and Romanians. The market is the only winner.
And to think they all used to be communists.
RPC + (of Bumswick by the Hole)
Rev. Rpc, 'tis true... Even here, they are concerned about the hordes of work-hungry Bulgarians and Romanians piling over the border.
That Smith chap certainly manages to shake things up.
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