I have travelled to FInland regularly for the past few years, and I never saw beggars until Romania joined the EU. Now I see them all the time, the beggars in Helsink that I see are all Roma gipsies.
They cause quite alot of concern here in Ireland especially when they beg beside ATM machines or at bus queues, sometimes they breastfeed their children while begging to get more sympathy. Believe you me, they are not penniless or starving.
A bunch of them camped out close to the main motorway (in terrible conditions) in Dublin to extort accomodation from the government, thank god that plan failed because it later emerged that the Mafia was involved. The Mafia were using the first wave as a test; if the first bunch were given benefits, the Mafia was prepared to send in thousands more to extort benefits which would go to organised crime.
Here are some links:
BreakingNews.ie: Archives :2007-07-24
Ambassador accuses Roma family of misleading public - National News, Breaking News - Independent.ie
Up to 70 Roma agree to be repatriated to Romania - Editorial, Opinion - Independent.ie
Most generous countries:
The Lippard Blog: Most generous countries