Ilves said that some western EU member states still hold an arrogant attitude towards the supposedly primitive and ignorant eastern bloc.
It is quite frustrating to be following the rules of the game and later find out that those that have treated you disparagingly infringe the rules instead, says Ilves.
According to the Estonian head of state, an example could be drawn from the EU agricultural policies, which despite being based on a joint internal market, provide three times more subsides to the so-called Old-Europe than, for instance, the Baltic states.
Ilves says, however, that the way international media covers Eastern European countries has been positive in the light of the European sovereign debt crisis.
According to him, this is because the media prefers to portray out-of-the-ordinary phenomena and responsibility in financial matters currently qualifies as such.
