Ако и ЕС съумее да съхрани западноевропейското наследство с това на Източна Европа (равнопоставено!) 1000 години, е тогава ще признаем и сходствата на ЕС и Византия. По-точно ще ги признаят бъдещите поколения.

The most important change (during the 11th c. - b-b.), however, is the development of the new western European markets and the role of the Italian merchants, on which more will be said below. Suffice it to say here that Italian trade in the empire took place under privileged conditions, incorporated in a number of treaties and privileges. Originally, these were granted to cities that were subject to Byzantium (Amalfi, Venice) but eventually also to Genoa and Pisa.
They reduced or, in the case of Venice, abolished the entry duty on ships entering and leaving Constantinople, and eventually also abolished the transactions tax between
Italian merchants and Byzantines. The development of trade with Italy was also attended, in the twelfth century, by piracy, which was now exercised by Italians rather
than Arabs, and which often had political as well as economic motives.
...
As to the effect of the expansion of the Italian merchants in Byzantium, it has to be seen in the proper economic context. The higher level of demand certainly affected
trade positively. But what about the participation of the Byzantine merchant in this expanded trade, which is not at all the same thing? The privileges granted to the
Venetians primarily and most fully, starting in 1082, and to the Genoese and the Pisans subsequently, unquestionably gave the Italian merchants a significant edge over Byzantine ones. While the privileges originally abolished the import-export duties, soon thereafter they also abolished (in the case of Venice, in 1126) or reduced significantly
(in the case of the other maritime states) the internal duties on commercial transactions. This immediately gave Venetian merchants a profit of 10% (or whatever the duty was that Byzantines paid) over all sales transactions, including those with Byzantines, and therefore increased significantly their competitive edge over native merchants.
The only people who could compete with Venetians on equal terms as far as this aspect of trade was concerned were those who also had tax privileges (e.g., the monasteries)
and the merchants of towns to which the Venetians did not have free entry: Monemvasia and possibly Thessalonike.252 The others worked at a disadvantage. Manifestly,
the Venetians, from their privileged position, could afford to offer higher prices to the Byzantine producer, thus giving him an incentive to sell to western rather than to
Byzantine merchants. There is, in any case, no question that Byzantine producers did sell to Venetians. Manifestly also, the Venetians could afford to cooperate with Byzantine
merchants, perhaps sharing some of the profits from the tax exemption, which means that even Byzantine merchants might use Venetians as middlemen. But that
cooperation, which could be profitable to Byzantine merchants for a while, inexorably led to a situation where the Venetians (here used as paradigmatic for all privileged
Italian traders) would become important in domestic trade, and the terms of cooperation would become very costly for the Byzantines.

е излязъл от тежката криза с девалвация, нова данъчна политика и премахването на търговските бариери в полза на чуждите инвеститори

Обаче в западните книги, учебници, ТВ и кино продукция няма нищо за нея.