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The 90's problems were not brought on by Europe or the "West". That's of course who gets blamed, but the transition from a bankrupt USSR was going to be bad and take many years and low oil prices did not help
Probably it relates to the visit to Bulgaria of the head of the Russian Orthodox church. Now Bulgaria (and Russia ) celebrates the 140th anniversary of the defeat of the fortress Plevna. This is a significant point of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878.
The relations between the Russians and the Bulgarians always were very warm. There are folks in Russia which have pedigree similar to the Bulgarians: the Chuvash and the Tatars (the Turkic peoples). Both the Bulgarians and the Russians use the Cyrillic alphabet and the main religion in these states is the Orthodox faith. Bulgarian language is clear to the Russians better than Polish language (but worse than Ukrainian language). Well Bulgaria is a real East-European country. And this is a cause why it was a part of the Ottoman Empire almost five hundred years. Bulgaria got the independence just 140 years ago.
EU requires governments to be structured in an accountable way before they can associate. There are various levels to this. Ukraine had to make significant reforms before the trade agreement was signed. Even more to get visa free status. There are still many more reforms before they can begin any kind of membership path. If you want to know the details of what that entails, study Montenegro's current and upcoming reformation efforts. Or if you want to see how its worked for others in the recent past, check out Croatia. The reward for reforming the government is money from the EU but of course corruption must be reduced before they get the money. It's all related...
Russia requires no government reform of any type to ally with them. In fact the world's most repressive regimes find support in Russia. This was the problems of the Ukrainians in 2013, they wanted reforms not economic alliance with a much smaller economy (Russia) than the EU.
EU requires governments to be structured in an accountable way before they can associate. There are various levels to this. Ukraine had to make significant reforms before the trade agreement was signed. Even more to get visa free status. There are still many more reforms before they can begin any kind of membership path. If you want to know the details of what that entails, study Montenegro's current and upcoming reformation efforts. Or if you want to see how its worked for others in the recent past, check out Croatia. The reward for reforming the government is money from the EU but of course corruption must be reduced before they get the money. It's all related...
I can paraphrasing. EU pays money for reforms. EU assesses (controls) reforms. What does EU get in return?
The relations between the Russians and the Bulgarians always were very warm.
Lol according to who? The metrosexual "far right" in Austria who just realized Russia exists on a map and decided to read about outdated concepts like the cold war, eastern europe in Wikipedia?
Russia has used the small country of Serbia as a messenger/puppet of their policy. They didn't like Bulgaria for 2 reasons: Fear that Bulgaria may become as strong as before the Ottomans and especially: fear bulgaria has too many turks thus union between bulgaria and turkey may threaten Russia. Of course these were just whataboutisms but was enough for russia to have pro-serbian anti-everyone else policy.
+ the alphabet or the orthodox church have zero to do with Russia anyway. They were in Eastern Europe long before Russia and were exactly as dominant.
I can paraphrasing. EU pays money for reforms. EU assesses (controls) reforms. What does EU get in return?
Excellent question, the EU gets stable neighbors (security) and trading partners (economic benefits). This is the goal of the EU, long term peace and prosperity. Europe has never had more of both than it does now. Access to the EU single market should be the goal for any country that is eligible.
Excellent question, the EU gets stable neighbors (security) and trading partners (economic benefits). This is the goal of the EU, long term peace and prosperity. Europe has never had more of both than it does now. Access to the EU single market should be the goal for any country that is eligible.
Good speech from an advertising poster. But, unfortunately, this has nothing to do with reality. If EU wants security, then why they was destroy Libya, bombed Yugoslavia and blowed up Middle East? Millions of Islamic migrants is poor security. And you can trade with any authoritarian country (for example, with China, Russia or Saudi Arabia). You don't need to invest billions for this.
They didn't like Bulgaria for 2 reasons: Fear that Bulgaria may become as strong as before the Ottomans
You flatter yourself. Most Russians will not even find Bulgaria on the World map.
Quote:
Originally Posted by euro123
+ the alphabet or the orthodox church have zero to do with Russia anyway. They were in Eastern Europe long before Russia and were exactly as dominant.
As well as Bulgaria. Say thanks to the Greeks.
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What is the context?
) celebrates the 140th anniversary of the defeat of the fortress Plevna. This is a significant point of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878.