-Caveat Lector- "I pledge Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the REPUBLIC for which it stands, one Nation under God,indivisible,with liberty and justice for all."
visit my web site at http://www.voicenet.com/~wbacon My ICQ# is 79071904 for a precise list of the powers of the Federal Government linkto: http://www.voicenet.com/~wbacon/Enumerated.html ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 07:49:56 -0500 From: OnlyMeAgain <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;> Subject: [JBirch] Fw: [Eurocritical] EU Business: Valley of tears as Romanian miners struggle with harsh EU realities The equivalent of the European Union [EU] is what the past administrations, Democrat and Republican, have been striving for over many decades. NAFTA, the current CAFTA, and the desired FTAA all will culminate in a North American version of the EU. The EU has done a remarkable job of destroying the countries that were able to "pay their own way" as the USA has been able to do until we decided to ship all of our Mfg capability out of country. Romania was never a very affluent country, but it is now the poorest country in Europe. Germany, France, and Belgium control the destiny and well being of all the EU members, and by association, the countries that refuse to knuckle under. ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Youles" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: 10 March, 2004 1:48 AM Subject: [Eurocritical] EU Business: Valley of tears as Romanian miners struggle with harsh EU realities Valley of tears as Romanian miners struggle with harsh EU realities 10 March 2004 = = In the heart of Romania's mine country all is not well. On the heights of "Little Bosnia," a blighted neighborhood in the city of Petrila, miners, unemployed since the European Union ordered the town's mines closed in 1997, are reduced to stealing the coal they once mined, to live. "My husband was laid off three years ago. Since then he has twice been arrested and let go for taking coal from the wagons of the Petrila mine," said 28-year-old Ionela. "We are a cursed colony," she added grimly. Ionela's husband is now back in prison and the young mother must steal the coal herself to keep her three children warm. Ionela is not alone. Twenty or so of her neighbours, all former miners from the neighborhood of 'Little Bosnia,' hide in the coal wagons in the hopes of escaping with a few lumps of coal in a sack. "We are scared, but it's the only solution, even though we only earn one euro for a bag of 25 kilos (55 pounds) of coal," explained Costel, a 40-year-old miner who has been unemployed for the last two years. "Yesterday the police arrested three of my friends and now they face at least a year in jail." Romania, slated to become part of the European Union in 2007, is waking up to the realities of life in a free market. Once the most important industry of the Ceausescu era, mining is now so unprofitable the authorities have committed to closing two thirds of the country's mines. "In the Jiu Valley (where Petrila is), we have closed seven mines so far. Despite the economic impact, the government is planning on closing 36 others by 2010 to meet the EU's demands," said Ervin Medves, the director in charge of mines with the Romanian finance ministry. But the absence of any reconversion program for the laid-off workers spells disaster for this region, now known as "the valley of grief," where unemployment has exploded to 35 percent, and the number of miners has shrunk from 60,000 in 1989 to less than 16,000 in 2004. According to Costel Postolache, leader of Romania's biggest miners' union dubbed "the black heads," only three or four of the mines still open are scheduled to undergo modernization and all of them are obsolete, with equipment dating back to the 1950s. "We still work with shovels and pick axes and each time I have to go down into the mine I pray for my life," said Petre, one of 50 miners who works the night shift in a Jiu Valley mine. "We have at least 10 fatal accidents a year. The last one in December killed two people," said Nicolae Ivanus, chief engineer at the Lupeni mine which once employed 2,500 people and was known as the pearl of the Jiu Valley. According to Ivanus, the 21.5 million euros in subsidies given to the industry by the Romanian government are insufficient to modernize the mines. But Brussels has estimated that the amount is far too high and has asked Bucharest to fade out all subsidies by 2007. "The EU is pushing us to close the mines earlier, but we need at least 15 years to restructure them,' said finance ministry representative Medves. "The miners of today have to understand that the slogan of the communist era to 'give the country coal' just won't work anymore." Text and Picture Copyright � 2004 AFP. 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