It’s not like that. The EU invests insane, Marshall-plan amounts of money into its Eastern member states, and it very visibly goes into infrastructure. Even stuff that is stolen by corruption is just money that goes into shit nobody needs, but still gets.
Every second playgorund, every motorway and new line of rail, every scientific lab and every second pub has a big-ass sign next to it saying “Built for a kajillion Euros by the EU”.
Relations with the US are also independent from relations to Germany/France/the EU, especially since the US doesn’t like to deal with the entire EU at once, since they can’t flex their muscles as much. The US also doesn’t really understand it, look at the new chip restrictions cutting the free market zone in half. All that also goes for China by the way.
Russia is simply incapable of giving a better deal than the EU. It can’t afford and is not credible to even want to spend as much as the EU. Also, Estonian, Hungarian, Bulgarian and Polish are official languages in Brussels, would they also be in Moscow? It’s just not comparable. And nobody needs Russia to trade with China. In fact, the big BnR rail line China/Serbia/Hungary is doing - the one that sparked the current protests that might mean the fall of the Russia/China aligned Serbian government - specifically avoids Russia. Most of current Chinese trade actually is mediated by the Netherlands and Romania/Bulgaria.
All I’m saying is that from the Eastern European viewpoint, if the EU/US and China/Russia are both a bundle deal - I believe they are not - then everyone will choose the one that doesn’t have Russia in it. If it’s not, the US and China are not necessarily different as a trading partner.
Are you from the Eastern EU?
It’s not like that. The EU invests insane, Marshall-plan amounts of money into its Eastern member states, and it very visibly goes into infrastructure. Even stuff that is stolen by corruption is just money that goes into shit nobody needs, but still gets.
Every second playgorund, every motorway and new line of rail, every scientific lab and every second pub has a big-ass sign next to it saying “Built for a kajillion Euros by the EU”.
Relations with the US are also independent from relations to Germany/France/the EU, especially since the US doesn’t like to deal with the entire EU at once, since they can’t flex their muscles as much. The US also doesn’t really understand it, look at the new chip restrictions cutting the free market zone in half. All that also goes for China by the way.
Russia is simply incapable of giving a better deal than the EU. It can’t afford and is not credible to even want to spend as much as the EU. Also, Estonian, Hungarian, Bulgarian and Polish are official languages in Brussels, would they also be in Moscow? It’s just not comparable. And nobody needs Russia to trade with China. In fact, the big BnR rail line China/Serbia/Hungary is doing - the one that sparked the current protests that might mean the fall of the Russia/China aligned Serbian government - specifically avoids Russia. Most of current Chinese trade actually is mediated by the Netherlands and Romania/Bulgaria.
All I’m saying is that from the Eastern European viewpoint, if the EU/US and China/Russia are both a bundle deal - I believe they are not - then everyone will choose the one that doesn’t have Russia in it. If it’s not, the US and China are not necessarily different as a trading partner.