European Journal | Latvia: From Boom to Bankrupt

On May 1,2004,10 countries - predominantly from eastern Europe - joined the European Union. Five years after the expansion into the east,the euphoria has somewhat dissipated,even among the erstwhile ideal candidates. Just a year ago,Latvians could proudly point to double-digit economic growth. Nowhere else did salaries rise faster - the politicians in Riga wanted to be at the forefront of achieving prosperity. Now things are going down steeply,the Latvian economy is sinking by at least 12 per cent. An unemployment rate of 20 per cent is expected. Many civil servants such as police officers or teachers can only look on as their salaries are drastically cut. In Latvia,the crisis is even affecting children. A number of schools had to be closed.

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[tetris136]

Latvia is jewish coutry and most of latvian goverment faces are jew .

[radovichhillary]

awesome clip .. thanks and god bless =)

[ClubDominoEnglish]

LATVIA<3

[Miacek08]

@aldcor - the budget deficit is not the gist of the problem, it simply made matters worse. Estonia managed to save money, having budget surpluses but nevertheless happened to be in the same league with Latvia.

[SirRainis]

Weel if Latvian govrement would't steal from bridge projects like Šlesers, and Andris Šķēle couple milions from something else, and other stealers like Kalvitis, Repše...it would be much better situation in Latvia

[aldcor]

@ks1551

You see, problem is budget deficit. Governmet says, that they don't have a money for these small schools. Crisis has overtaken all Latvia. Every Latvian can feel it.. And it's getting worse for some people :( More and more people leaving Latvia for a better lifes in other countries.. Weak economy, thin people. Poorest county in Europe. But one is amazing! Look at cars in Riga! Newest BMW and Audi all over the Riga! Crisis...

[juratuke]

@kukuls99 you have to be proud !!!!! It's just an economical crisis !!! It's not the end of the world !!!!

[kukuls99]

im from latvia and not too proud of my country :)

[BITARTEN]

Worse than with the USSR???. Fuck the UE!

[Pabloe80]

Money spent in education is neaver unreasonably.

Education ensures the future.