Now that we have finally emerged from the rubble of the Soviet Empire, free once again, the European Union and the Western World don’t have the decency to give us an economic chance. Vanquished Germany (the country that brought calamity upon Europe and the world, in cahoots with Stalin the sociopath) was given the gift of the Marshall Plan after WW II by the West with no second thoughts. Where are Russian repatriation payments to Central and Eastern Europe, where is the Marshall Plan for Central and Eastern Europe that the West ought to activate? Not so much as compensation for the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, not as blood money for the Yalta Betrayal, but simply as a prudent, wise and benevolent measure. A stable and well-to-do belt of Central and Eastern European countries would help to stabilize the periphery of Europe, guarding against the unwelcome ideologies and behaviors that are often bred during periods of economic downturn. A prosperous CEE would cement the democratic tradition. Besides - an Eastern Europe with buying power would be a prime market of substantial size for goods manufactured not only in Western Europe and Northern America, but for goods and services manufactured anywhere. (..) The fact that the Berlin Wall was knocked down two decades ago was a great victory for the West and for the vanquished peoples of Eastern Europe. This victory needs to be kept safe, not nickel and dimed back into the hands of an ominous, essentially undemocratic and mean-spirited Kremlin. It is time for Central and Eastern Europe to be given a Marshall Plan. The boost that would come from this would also work to the benefit of the benefactors.
— Jüri Estam from Tallinn, Estonia
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