Socialist Yugoslavia and the EEC

[poiuytrewq0987]

Yugoslavia had established special trading relationships with EEC members West Germany and Italy (accounting for 70 percent of Yugoslavia's EEC trade in 1989), as well as most members of the neutralist European Free Trade Association ( EFTA--see Glossary). In 1988 the EEC granted a five-year extension of Yugoslavia's special commercial status. West European experts generally agreed that if it remained politically stable, Yugoslavia would be admitted to the EEC ahead of former Soviet bloc members such as Poland and Hungary.

http://www.photius.com/countries/yugoslavia_former/economy/yugoslavia_former_economy_the_industrialized_w~269 9.html

Meaning Yugoslavia would've joined the EEC and eventually became a part of the European Union today (this also means there would've been no struggle to get Croatia and the rest of Western Balkans to be qualified to join the EU today).

[The Lawspeaker]

This would have led to a more stable Europe as the 1990s Civil War probably wouldn't have happened as the West would have stopped funding those extreme characters there.
Would Yugoslavia have been free ? Well it's successor countries aren't free now either but at least there would have been some stability in that part of Europe...

[poiuytrewq0987]

This would have led to a more stable Europe as the 1990s Civil War probably wouldn't have happened as the West would have stopped funding those extreme characters there.
Would Yugoslavia have been free ? Well it's successor countries aren't free now either but at least there would have been some stability in that part of Europe...

If Yugoslavia was still here today, we'd be more in charge of our fate than we are today where we are at mercy of the EU (where the great powers are now part of), the NATO and USA and to a lesser extent, China and Russia.

[poiuytrewq0987]

This is somewhat an inconvenient truth for the Yugoslavs who hated Yugoslavia but wanted to join the EU... a bit of a contradiction there since once all the ex-Yugoslavian republics are in the EU, they'll be essentially together again. :coffee:

[poiuytrewq0987]

Personally, I think the breakup of Yugoslavia never did us any favors. We should have just stuck it out for the sake of prosperity and join the EU then break up peacefully later than breakup early and send our economy to hell.

It's good that Croatia is an independent country along with others but was the devastation setting our economy back by 50 years, and the war crime indictments blemishing our reputation worth it? I don't think so.

[The Lawspeaker]

A break-up could have happened peacefully during the 1990s if Yugoslavia would have joined the E.E.C/ EU. It could have happened gradually Czecho-Slovakia style. But it didn't..

[poiuytrewq0987]

A break-up could have happened peacefully during the 1990s if Yugoslavia would have joined the E.E.C/ EU. It could have happened gradually Czecho-Slovakia style. But it didn't..

The GDP of Yugoslavia by 1991 was $198 billion and had it remained stable and grew by an average of 7% a year then the country's GDP would be $548 billion by now. I think the 7% growth rate was possible had we joined the EEC since Europe's markets would be virtually open for import of Yugoslav goods.

Per capita wise, the average was $8,200 per capita; had Yugoslavia endured the per capita average would've been at $20,400 in 2011. The figure could be higher since there are other factors that do make the per capita figure go higher but can't be really predicted.

Slovenia was Yugoslavia's richest region and managed to secede without experiencing any serious economic damage. The average per capita in Slovenia is $23,744.

Let's compare Slovenia to Yugoslavia's second richest region, Croatia. Croatia's economy was hurt pretty bad by the Yugoslav wars since it was one of the major players in the wars. The per capita of Croatia is at $15,628 today. A whopping $8116 difference. You can see how severe the wars affected Croatia's economy and its living standards making it fall pretty far behind Slovenia.

The wars didn't do any of the former Yugoslav countries good. It only made our situation worse, set back our economy by 50 years and delayed the joining of the EEC/EU by 20 (25-30 for Serbia, Macedonia and others) years. It would have been far more wise to let the union remain and join the EU then peacefully break up.

[Dipsy]

Yugoslavia had established special trading relationships with EEC members West Germany and Italy (accounting for 70 percent of Yugoslavia's EEC trade in 1989), as well as most members of the neutralist European Free Trade Association ( EFTA--see Glossary). In 1988 the EEC granted a five-year extension of Yugoslavia's special commercial status.

Trade, trade, trade...

The only problem was that Yugoslavia had nothing to "trade" (ie. to export) to those countries. Nothing that could have competed with the poroducts from the western economies.

[poiuytrewq0987]

If the Yugoslav republics stuck it out and followed through with economic reforms to fully westernise the country's economic system:

All figures are estimated by theorising a successful economic reform by 1991 where all republics saw a consistent GDP growth of 7%. Additionally, since the wars never happened it meant the large exodus of Yugoslavs would've never happened and most certainly a positive population growth could've been driven and the GDP figures could be even higher.

Croatia

Current nominal GDP: $60 billion

Croatia in Yugoslavia 2011 nominal GDP: $96 billion

Slovenia

Current nominal GDP: $48 billion

Slovenia in Yugoslavia 2011 nominal GDP: $48 billion

Slovenia was the only country that experienced consistent growth post-war so the $48 billion figure is pretty much right.

Serbia (Central Serbia + Vojvodina and Kosovo combined)

Current nominal GDP: $58 billion

Serbia in Yugoslavia 2011 nominal GDP: $105 billion

Macedonia:

Current nominal GDP: $10 billion

Macedonia in Yugoslavia 2011 nominal GDP: $15 billion

Montenegro:

Current nominal GDP: $4.1 billion

Montenegro in Yugoslavia 2011 nominal GDP: $5.6 billion

Bosnia:

Current nominal GDP: $17.4 billion

Bosnia in Yugoslavia 2011 nominal GDP: $39.1 billion

Yugoslavia:

Former Yugoslavia nominal GDP: $197.4 billion

Yugoslavia 2011 nominal GDP: $308.1 billion

[poiuytrewq0987]

Yugoslavia:

Nominal GDP: $308 billion
Population: 23 million (0% population growth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Former_Yugoslavia#Demographics) 1981-2011)

Czech Republic:

Nominal GDP: $192 billion
Population: 10.1 million

Austria:

Nominal GDP: $402 billion
Population: 8.4 million

Sweden:

Nominal GDP: $443 billion
Population: 9.3 million

Poland:

Nominal GDP: $479 billion
Population: 38.1 million

Switzerland:

Nominal GDP: $512 billion
Population: 7.8 million

Netherlands:

Nominal GDP: $832 billion
Population: 16.6 million

[Smart Aleck]

For us Gypsies Yugoslavia was better than these mutually hostile statelets. We could move more freely from one region to another and communicate with other co-nationals. But then again, Ottoman Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire were even better.