Comments by "Alex" (@Alex-df4lt) on "Will Albania be the Next EU Member? The Results and Implications of Albania's Election - TLDR News" video.

@hangingwithmygnomes2067 Strategically every country that mattered has joined the EU already. The rest in Balkans are very small countries with questionable benefits for the EU, therefore EU expansion doesn't need to be as rapid as in the case of former candidates. In late 90s it was vital to expand while Russia was weak. Despite problems with Hungary and Poland, it was a correct decision to admit so many new members.
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@marcbuisson2463 Young people are usually not pro Russian. It's the old communist generation that doesn't speak languages. Explosion in Vrbetice in Czechia orchestrated by Russian agents goes to show who are real and fake patriots. Overall expansion of the EU has been a success. People were naive not to expect some problems along the way. I would worry more about pro Russian sentiments in Germany and France.
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@Kafei01 Half of people in eastern EU countries are the old communist generation. They don't speak languages and believe Russian conspiracy theories. But they are on the way out.
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@marcbuisson2463 Illiberal democracy is a Russian political weapon in hybrid war to subvert western democracies. In eastern EU it finds supporters mostly among the old communist generation which is on the way out.
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@andrepolkstonia4728 Serbia is very pro Russian. Serbia joining likely means yet another Hungary.
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News flash, cultural differences tend to grow with geographical distance. Half of their population is communist generation, no wonder they do not share your values. It's an extremely slow process. Had the EU waited too long, there was danger of Russia recovering some of its influence in the east.
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Accepting Romania and Bulgaria was about isolating the rest of Balkans from Russia to buy time. Some people may dislike it, but it was strategically necessary.
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It was necessary to stabilize rule of law and democracy in them. Most people do not understand world politics.
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@gontrandjojo9747 Hungarian government is pursuing Russian political model at the moment and building nuclear power plant with Russia. It refused to buy vaccines as part of EU program and decided to use Chinese and Russian vaccines. So much for hate for Russia.
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@Flavor88 Young skilled people from Balkans move to the EU or US. That says it all who is better off - those who stayed out or those who joined.
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Not true. It's been mostly a success. Look how those countries that stayed out are doing. A rare opportunity arose while Russia was weak to expand and strengthen democracy in Europe by expanding the EU. Keep in mind it's mostly the old communist generation that is still in power in eastern EU. They are a hopeless case and can never fully comprehend importance of freedom and democracy. But they are on the way out.
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@balliberalisdr.6731 But it is your responsibility as a Hungarian to clean up that mess and oust him in the next election.
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@TheLastAngryMan01 Hungarian opposition is partially to blame too. There was no noteworthy opposition for a long time except for Jobbik, an extremist party. Orban took advantage of the political situation in Hungary and unhappiness of the population with economic situation.
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@TheLastAngryMan01 You fail to understand you can never expect former communists to adopt western values. Mostly these people are still in power in eastern EU. Situation in Hungary and Poland is a manifestation of this issue. The EU should have stopped funding Hungary long time ago. EU expansion did help adopt democracy in eastern EU as the communist generation had to adopt western political system and new generation grew up in the meantime that doesn't remember communism. Without external pressure these countries would have reverted to authoritarian methods with young generation not seeing anything wrong with it. Your conclusion is wrong because you know too little about this region. West too is experiencing trouble with populist politicians like Trump or Johnson. It isn't an issue affecting eastern EU exclusively.
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@balliberalisdr.6731 But you can expand it by convincing fellow Hungarians to make the right choice. If they prefer to live as sheeple for a dictator then I would wish them goodbye and leave.
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@TheLastAngryMan01 Immigration issue was yet another screw up from the EU. Western EU countries need to learn to accept their share of blame for the situation. Brexit happened due to uncontrolled immigration as well...
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@balliberalisdr.6731 Democracy and freedom cannot be taken for granted. If you do not defend them you lose them.
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@TheLastAngryMan01 If you've been following American politics in recent years you must have noticed there are some stark similarities between Eastern EU and American Republicans (esp avid America First supporters). American conservatives seem to have noticed it as well. Immigrants from this region are highly likely to vote for Republicans in the US. Poland and Hungary have just gotten a little bit further than Americans. Once the communist generation is gone, these countries are likely to resolve their problems with democracy/corruption but they will highly likely remain more conservative just like American red states. They prefer lower taxes and less solidarity. So there I will agree with you there won't be a liberal revolution happening. But I don't see that as a problem for the EU. The young generation is not destructive unlike the old one. The old fascist generation in Spain and Italy is long gone, therefore the situation is not comparable with Eastern EU right now. You will have to wait about 20 years to judge, but small changes should be happening within 10 years. This is the reason why Americans found it very hard to build democracy in Iraq/Afghanistan - the old generation there is still too numerous. You are also underestimating influence of internet, media and entertainment industry, it allows cultures to evolve much more rapidly. This is why in Eastern EU there is a clear divide between the old and young generation. Western EU fails to see redistribution of migrants doesn't resolve the migration issue. It only postpones the problem. By pushing this agenda it is only strengthening Orban and PIS in Poland. Eastern EU has almost no council housing to house immigrants. Social security there only provides basic subsistence to avoid begging on streets. Life there will be extremely hard for people who don't speak the local language (which are very difficult to learn and of limited use due to small countries) or English fluently. Immigrants know it and therefore don't want to stay there. These countries only want immigrants who come there out of their own choice as those will contribute. It doesn't matter if one is from Ukraine, Egypt or Syria. Forcing people to stay there will only lead to trouble as you will not integrate if you do not want to stay.
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