But for the majority of working people the improvement was not really felt. It just increased the rate of emigration and allowed more people to move to richer EU countries, especially the most highly skilled and educated people, which is a serious loss for these already poorer countries.

It's a loss for non- and less affluent in both states, and a win for the most affluent of both, from my perspective, lessening upward mobility in the state where the more skilled and educated emigrated and opening the door to workers visa for even lower paid but higher skilled from even poorer states in the other, thus limiting training and upward mobility there.

I don’t know how i got to venting about the EU again from the topic of costs of living. Sorry. I tend to go on tangents sometimes.

Are you vying for my tangent crown?

Anyway it's tangential, and I probably was guilty first and it's all baked into the larger topic, more for the obscenely wealthy, at the expense of the obscenely poor, and any regular worker is always one crises away from becoming obscenely poor, whether that crises is physical, mental, or an unexpected expense. I'm guessing most here are younger than myself and praying that my generation hasn't left those behind me an unsalvageable mess, because I'm guilty too, of blissful ignorance and fancying myself clever, having bought the propaganda wholesale, for far too long. I pray for any small contribution I may make to become part of a greater shift in direction, for everyone.