January 1, 2007

EU Expansion: Someone Here Doesn’t Belong

To date, I have never kept a New Year’s resolution, so I decided that I should start making them for others. The theme for 2007 is ‘Stop Shooting Yourself in the Foot,’ and the lucky recipient of my counsel this year is the European Union.

The member states have a strange relationship as it is. Less than 25 years ago, most of them were ready to go to war with one another. Today they smile and shake hands under a common banner. It’s really quite charming, makes me tear up.

You know what else makes me tear up? Human rights violations, lack of medical care and corruption. So when the EU decided to grant membership to my native country of Poland, I winced. Our socio-political culture was not, and is not, ready for the membership. Some economists predict that the euro cannot be introduced for another 10 years.

Many have argued that Poland will meet these standards once admitted. It has been a few years now and while IKEA is doing great business there, the country is losing its doctor population at 2 percent a year and the average GDP per capita is 50 percent of an average EU citizen’s.

If that stinks of inequality to you, please say hello to the two newest additions to the EU: Romania and Bulgaria. GDP per capita? 33 percent of the average EU citizen’s. I’m not going to elaborate on the chaotic bureaucracy and lack of adequate social programs. Point is, they don’t belong.

The European Union is meant to be an elite organization that serves as a model to other countries. It is not an outreach program for economically and socially disadvantaged nations.

If the European Union seeks to retain its prestige, it needs to be more selective when it comes to picking members. Judging from its actions to date, it is less committed to ideals it allegedly seeks to promote and is more eastward-expansion-oriented.

By focusing on quantity, the organization loses on quality. It compromises its principles when it allows countries that are not ready to share the responsibility of being a modern European nation as others to join the Union.

While the celebrations in Sofia and Bucharest focused on the advantages and opportunities for the newest member nations, economists and political analysts are predicting misuse of aid and the need to ban certain food exports.

The powerful member states of the EU have a strong interest in opening new markets. However, opening the door to the organization as a means of achieving this advantage, while ignoring the shortcomings of potential members, is unprincipled.

Romania and Bulgaria were admitted into the Union despite the fact that only 41 percent of EU citizens approve of further expansion. It is likely that the admission of these Balkan states to the EU is a prelude to Turkey’s admission. If we keep up the rate we’re going at, the Uzbek flag will be flying in at the EU headquarters in Brussels.

Whether the motivation is greed or genuine desire for unity, the EU should stick to its previous resolutions and uphold all of its standards.   

To offer feedback on this column, click here.