A New European Union Emerges
by John-Christophe Gramont
A FEW MONTHS AGO EUROPE THREW OPEN ITS DOORS TO THE EAST AS YEARS OF TORTUROUS NEGOTIATIONS WITH TEN CANDIDATE COUNTRIES ENDED IN A DEAL IN COPENHAGEN, DENMARK. WHAT OPPORTUNITIES DOES THIS DEVELOPMENT OPEN UP FOR THE ADULT INDUSTRY, AND INTERNET E-COMMERCE IN GENERAL?
The new Europe will stretch from Portugal to the borders of Russia, taking in the following ten new countries: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus. From now on webmasters should be more familiar with some new domain extensions. For instance, what do the letters LV evoke for you? For most of us, LV stands for Las Vegas, and for the ladies... probably their favourite purse brand, Louis Vuitton. From now on, .LV is also the domain extension of Latvia, a beautiful Baltic country that I had the chance to visit twice.
This country, a former member of the Soviet Union, will be one of the countries to join the EU in 2004. To see the present situation in regards to the adult industry in these countries, just visit a sample URL such as www.sex.lv and you will see for yourself the gap between the Western countries and this country. Needless to say, a few years ago we could see the same gap between a top French adult site, and a Cybererotica or Babenet. Now the difference has disappeared. Needless to say the economic differences (despite the help of the EU), between a country like Latvia and Germany or the USA, will always be huge, but as far as the Internet is concerned, it won't be long before those countries adopt the standard of design and quality seen in the Western countries.
To help those countries meet the requirements and enter the European union, the EU finally agreed to pay an additional $442m to the candidate countries, most of it to Poland. The Copenhagen summit marked the last act in the reunification of Eastern and Western Europe following the end of the Cold War. Now that the accession talks have been completed, the EU will expand to 25 countries in 2004, provided that referendums in the candidate countries ratify their accession treaties.
The new members will bring an extra 75 million people into the EU. Bulgaria and Romania are set to join in 2007.
Home page of www.sex.lv - LV is the extension for Latvia.
The future of Europe will depend on the success of the integration of these newcomers, and for webmasters all over the world the increase in exchanges between these new countries will definitely begin a new era in the adult Internet. For some professionals in adult e-commerce, the Eastern countries have a bad reputation, because of hackers and a high rate of charge backs. Eastern Europe is also synonymous for some webmasters, with beautiful girls and cheap content. So now, like it or not, 10 new countries will join the EU in 2004, and it's very important to ask yourself what the consequences will be for the Internet in general, and for your business in particular. Of course the Internet has no frontier, and these countries have not waited until 2004 to establish a presence in the international markets. Entering the Union will facilitate the exchange of personnel and ideas, and the adult Internet will have to work with these new players.
The good news for American webmasters, who often found it difficult to conduct business with Europeans, is that it might be easier for Americans to work with these new European Union countries than with the more traditional ones. Indeed, in the current political climate, these new countries are closer to their North American allies than some of the old ones. Remember Donald Rumsfeld stating the center of gravity for Europe was moving East. Indeed the Polish army recently purchased F16 aircraft instead of the European eurofighter, and in the Iraq crisis the USA received more support from the future members of the Union than from the former ones (except for the UK).
The American webmasters might find it easier to cooperate with the future members of the European Union.
Seven Basic Tips on How to Convert International Traffic
In the year 2000, USA had 154 Million surfers, and Europe had148Million. However, these numbers will be reversed in the year 2005, with a prediction of 246Million European surfers compared to 214Million in the USA. This means only 20% of the Internet end users in the world will be Americans.
Another fact that cannot be overlooked is the Language part. In 1999, 55% of the Internet population spoke English. In the year 2005, the majority of the world's surfers will speak another language.
PART TWO: The Seven Basic Tips
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