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By Tom Warner in Chop, Transcarpathia, Ukraine
Financial Times, London, UK, Saturday, May 1 2004
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CHOP, UKRAINE - "If I could, I'd kill them all," says the attendant. "You
don't mean that," his friend, a frequent customer, retorts as the two men
stand chatting at a liquid propane gas station on the Ukrainian side of the
Hungarian border.
"No, I do. I hate them," the attendant insists, this time with a laugh.
"They all make 10 times my salary. They're just cheap," he says, pointing at
the Hungarian cars that have come to fill up on cheap petrol, forming a line
nearly 2km long at the border.
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Border Guard
Reuters
(Click on image to enlarge it)
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The attendant, who only earns about $90 a month, is one of many people on
the Ukrainian side of the border bitter at being left behind by the
enlargement of the European Union, which from today expands its boundaries
eastwards to within touching distance of his LPG station, just 100 metres
away.
Struggling with central European prices that have grown faster than their
incomes, Hungarians flock to Transcarpathia, Ukraine's westernmost region,
in increasing numbers, mostly to fill up on cheap petrol. For the residents
of Hungary, price inflation is one of the well-known drawbacks that go along
with the advantages of European Union membership.
For the residents of the town of Chop in Transcarpathia, the influx of
bargain-hunters, although a business opportunity, is a bitter reminder of
the new Europe they were not invited to join.
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Many residents of Chop curse the whims of history. Transcarpathia was part
of Hungary and then Czechoslovakia until the end of the second world war,
when it became the last bit of territory "voluntarily" to join the USSR.
"Our problem is, when the Soviet Union fell apart, we had to find ways to
make money fast," the attendant's friend explains. "And that meant mostly
black business. I think that's why it will be a long time before we can join
the European Union."
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He has a particular reason to be envious. For more than a decade, he has
made his living selling Ukrainian gasoline in Hungary. The tank in his
propane-burning car serves as a duty-exempt container for hauling petrol. He
earns about $300 a month crossing the border every other day.
Five years ago there were thousands of Ukrainian "shuttle traders" like him
working this post, but the numbers have steadily dwindled as border controls
have tightened. "I'd gladly give this up if I could find a normal job," he
says.
FOR PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC USE ONLY
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