Farmers in Transylvania have created a landscape of flower-filled hay meadows. Can they endure?
Posted on 02/20/2014 9:25:49 PM PST by PieterCasparzen
Amid the hysteria surrounding Romanian immigration at the beginning of this year, something crucial was forgotten: borders open both ways. As the English tabloids were throwing a tantrum about the impending "Romanian invasion", the would-be-intruders were preparing for an invasion of their own: 1 January 2014 marked the day when Romania's honeymoon period as a new EU member came to an end and, under EU law, the country was obliged to open up its land market to foreign investors.
As a country with almost 5 million peasant farmers – a quarter of the population – this was a matter of serious concern. The peasant farming economy has long been eroding under the open-market policies pushed by the European Union and the Romanian state. Squeezed out of the market by the agri-investment giants who take the bulk of the EU's common agricultural policy subsidies, small farmers are facing a difficult choice: sell up and move west to look for work, or hold tight and navigate a life of increasing rural poverty.
...
Meanwhile, Bucharest knows exactly what it is doing. Poland and Hungary faced the same situation, yet both countries implemented laws that to an extent increase the security of their country's landowners. Their reasons may have been populist and nationalist, but the results of the laws are a stand against the hegemonic policy of the EU and a relative safeguard to their peasants. The Romanian government has no such plan; here the land policy lies directly in line with that of the EU, a policy which can make Romania's powerful very rich, very quickly.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Both Ukraine's and Romainia's external debt at the end of 2012 was a little over $130 billion, in USD.
But both of these figures are are only around 70% of their respective GDPs.
Per capita, Romainia's was over $5,000 while Ukraine's was only about $2,100.
In the minds of international banking, both of these nations are prime targets to start borrowing, i.e., issuing sovereign debt.
Of course, if they are fully part of Western banking, their central bank would presumably "invest" in soverign debt of other Western nations.
There are many other aspects to EU membership - the land aspect is what this article deals with.
Wonder if they'll be allowed to collect dung for heating and cooking in their new digs?
The thread is in no way an endorsement of the guardian.
Just readin’ the text I found in a web search on romainia/eu/etc.
The land grab, IMHO, is always heartbreaking.
Just wait until one of them German Socialists notices that they are Useless Eaters.
Farmers in Transylvania have created a landscape of flower-filled hay meadows. Can they endure?
This is the whole problem with the EU.
A good portion of a country’s productive class leaves for opportunities in other countries, leaving only the poor behind. And only foreign investment props the country up, plus taking on tons of debt.
LOL. It seems like they have degraded even comparing to communist times. Under Ceausescu they had tractors and cropdusters at least. Both probably not green enough for EU regulations.
>>>A good portion of a country’s productive class leaves for opportunities in other countries,<<<
Not to mention hordes of leftist freeloaders on their tail invading for better benefits and bringing their lifestyles to the West as a collateral.
Sorry about that.
On the main FR page, use the link in this paragraph:
Most of the sourced material posted to Free Republic is posted according to the “fair use” doctrine of copyright law for non-commercial news reporting, education and discussion purposes. We used to post full text of most articles so we could document history as it’s being made, but more and more news agencies are now requesting us to post excerpts and links only to their material, and some are requesting that we post no material at all from their sites. We are complying with all such requests. Click here for the latest list of copyright requests. Please send takedown requests to: jimrob@psnw.com
The link at the words “Click here”
which was this link:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1111944/posts
In that page, I check this section:
These sites must be excerpted and linked only:
I found
The Guardian (UK)
when I searched the page for the string “guard”
I searched for the string “image” on the page
and only found this:
Also, do not post images from Corbis or Getty.
So I thought I was ok.
Is there some other place we should be checking ? Or is the page not up to date ?
I’d appreciate any guidance you could give me, I apologize if I’m not doing this correctly.
Thanks for your response and question.
(This reply is from a different Moderator)
All copyrighted images are considered the same as an article, not allowed to be posted without being excerpted.
As images cannot be excerpted, they cannot be posted.
So all copyrighted photos, images, gifs, graphs etc cannot be posted.
Thanks.
Oh. I did not see that rule anywhere in the excerpting guidelines. Can you point me to it ? If it’s not there, can it be added in bold right up front in the excerpting guidelines ?
IMHO, it would be good to put it where it won’t be missed every time FReepers check that link.
Happy to comply !
You should be able to find what you are looking for now.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1111944/posts
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