The disillusionment of new Europe

According to the daily Berliner Zeitung the demonstrations in Riga, Sofia and Vilnius herald growing discontent in the new EU states. "In the Baltic and Bulgaria, but also in the other new EU member states, the economic shock is being compounded by a psychological shock. People are witnessing the profound crisis of a social model that for over a decade was presented to them as the only way out of poverty and into 'blooming landscapes'. ... The growing insecurity of the people coincides with a trend that has been in evidence for some time now: the growing strength of a radical and in some instances violent form of populism. This is not just about a few people throwing stones on the fringes of justified protests. The economic crisis could ultimately test the stability of political institutions. It doesn't take any special powers to predict that a number of governments in the eastern half of the European Union won't survive the year 2009."

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