Winter of Discontent

Walls have once again sprung up delineating west from east

For many Central and Eastern Europeans it's a case of deja-vu. The short spring which followed the end of the Cold War has come to an end. Summer seemed to fly by so quickly, you can even go so far as to say that there never really was one. Meanwhile, walls have once again sprung up throughout the region, delineating west from east. There walls run along the same lines of the former Iron Curtain, more or less.

The reality of this became quite apparent lately. In Romania, for instance, the European Union (EU) scrapped visa requirements for citizens wishing to travel to western Europe. There is a catch, however: like the communist "good old days", anyone wishing to cross the border must show that they have at least 500 euros in cash. This may not seem like a great amount, especially for those from the developed world, but for ordinary Romanians it's prohibitive; for most it represents a couple of months wages.

Without a doubt, the new measures are intended to stem the flow of people travelling west to seek a better life. Yet, as with most such EU regulations imposed on the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, whilst such measures seek to satisfy the xenophobic desires of fortress Europe, they have also increased the level of tension and mistrust among neighbours within the region.

A case in point is with Hungary. The new travel requirements for Romanian citizens is seen by many as distinctly an "anti-Hungarian" measure. There is a large Hungarian diaspora living in the Transylvania region of Romania, and many right-wing politicians consider the whole scheme as a way to prevent Hungarians from travelling to the mother country. What they fail to realise, however, is that the new measures affect all Romanians travelling in any direction.

Nevertheless, many Hungarians don't seem satisfied with the present state of affairs. What is more, they feel that their own freedom to travel is slowly but surely being curtailed. At about the same time the Romanian government brought in measures regulating foreign travel, Canada re-introduced visa requirements for Hungarians travelling to the Great White North. The Canadian government's reason for doing so was put bluntly: in Hungary there is no repression, therefore there is no need to maintain an open border policy. Ironically, this contrasts sharply with the US ambassador's appraisal of the situation, who recently described the level of discrimination in Hungary as alarming.

Despite the official explanation, most are convinced of the "real" reasons as to why why Canada closed its borders to the east. One has to do with anti-foreigner sentiment and paranoia as a result of the aftermath of the September 11th attacks in the US. Another is the fact that many Roma (gypsy) families have taken advantage of the open door policy in order to claim asylum in Canada.

Whatever the particular reason, one thing is for certain: the process of shutting out the "undesirables" from Central and Eastern Europe has been going on for many years. Lately, however, it has become more pronounced. Also, it's something that is not limited to a few countries but which is being applied on a regional level as a whole. In the Czech Republic, for instance, British immigration officials operate from within the Czech Republic in order to prevent undesirables leaving the country for the United Kingdom (UK). As with Canada, the UK has seen an influx of asylum seekers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, most of them of Roma origin.

Unfortunately, the tragic history of Central and Eastern Europe has been one of short springs and signs of hope, only to be later dashed by the repression of puppet state apparatuses or outright outside invasion. Recent surveys showed that, with the exception of Slovenia, the majority of people within Central and Eastern Europe feel that democracy and the reforms of the past ten years have been negative. With the US war on terrorism officially heralding a Second Cold War, the atmosphere has become that much colder. To paraphrase a Cat Stevens song, winter came one day when no one was looking, and it stole away the land.

http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/11/11368/1.html