Zahorska Ves, Slovakia ? Day in and day out, Frantisek Danihel steers his ferry back and forth over the slow-moving Morava River, linking what were two separate worlds only a year ago — the European Union and its aspiring members.

On a formal level, the barriers dissolved on May 1, 2004, when Slovakia and nine other mostly former communist nations joined what they had long viewed as an exclusive Western club. Yet opinions are mixed among EU newcomers about how much they have gained from membership and what’s in store for the future.

Danihel says he still feels like an outsider even though Austria is only 50 yards away on the other side of the brown waters of the Morava. The barbed wire and grim-faced border guards separating the two countries are history, but less tangible barriers stand in his way.

“I hardly go to Austria,” said the gray-haired 60-year-old, who has piloted the ferry for the last three years. “What for? To see how well off they are?”

But others in new EU countries are eagerly taking advantage of new opportunities.

“Estonia is now part of an open market,” said Estonian software entrepreneur Villem Alango. “We certainly have better business opportunities as there is less direct bureaucracy.”

While still below top salaries in Austria, Germany and other more established EU member nations, wages in the former communist EU members are moving upward. A manager working for a Western company can earn about $4,500 a month.

And economies are booming in the new EU countries. A United Nations report published this year said the “EU-8” — the eastern European countries that joined last May — will continue to outperform the 15 Western nations that made up the old EU.

But that’s only part of the new Europe. Even young people with time to wait for a better life are frustrated with present realities.

“My disposable income has not increased a single cent, but many products now cost more,” said Aurimas Sirvinskas, a 27-year old Lithuanian. “I did not expect sudden and good changes, but now it seems a better life is still far away.”

Even in Zahorska Ves, a community of 1,608 people that is Slovakia’s most western village, life is hard on wages reminiscent of the Communist east.

Danihel, the ferryman, earns about 12,000 koruna a month, or just under $400. Bread costs about 7 cents a loaf, but gasoline runs $4.60 a gallon and a pound of pork $2.20.

“Everyone thought that after joining the EU, we’ll have a better life. But it is worse,” Danihel said. “I won’t live long enough to enjoy it.”