this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
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cross-posted from: https://europe.pub/post/6784

I see a lot of posts of people complaining that some import products from the EU are too expensive in their own country - namely there was a viral post about someone from Bulgaria sharing that the German Fritz Cola is 2x more expensive than the US alternatives.

In this movement no one is asking you to buy Fritz, buy Bulgarian alternatives first - I am sure there are plenty of bulgarian cola alternatives.

If you live in Bulgaria (ofc whichever country actually) this is best thing to do:

  1. ⁠Buy as local for your city, region you can get (support small companies, mom & pop shops, farmers etc)
  2. Buy generally Bulgarian stuff to support your own economy
  3. Buy EU stuff to support EU economy
  4. Buy Canada or any other ally nation stuff to support good relationship
  5. Buy from USA, China etc (arguably buy Chinese before american)

Ofc the list is just an example on the thought process, you can also make your own list based on your own convictions

Originally posted on Reddit

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Though I like the spirit and intended message, so I don't want to be too negative, I'm not personally too fond of this approach. Like you said, everyone can make their own considerations; I'll add mine in case you find them interesting.

A big obstacle that often comes up with joint European plans is that every country wants their own local companies to benefit. This has long been a problem with defence (though hopefully a bit less so now), everyone wants to do a little bit of everything, which often ends up with them doing it poorly, while the EU also misses out on the benefits of scaling up. Or from the perspective of consumers, it's why we don't have a proper European alternative for Netflix, but instead dozens of "meh" national subscription services. For food, it can be complex; on the one hand it's good for the environment to reduce transportation emissions, on the other hand, transport is often a negligible part of the emission cost of produce compared to other factors (but not always). So it's often better to import produce from countries where it grows well, than buying locally from producers who use costly (financially or environmentally) methods.

It can get quite complex quite quickly. I'd say let's consider local products as good options with potential advantages and disadvantages, but don't necessarily view them as superior to other EU products. And let's avoid falling into the trap of expecting direct national benefit from every individual EU initiative (not saying you specifically OP, just a general point).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago