simulacrum writes:

The "New" Europe

The European Union as from May 1 has ten new member-countries. It extended its membership after years of debate and indecisiveness and became the world's single biggest market with a population of 450 million. Not only that the extended EU increased its economic potential, and eventually its worldwide influence and economic power, but it created a part of the world which will presumably be a respective, almost equal, competitor to the US on the global political landscape in quest for global dominance.

As it is, there are some significant downsides to this spectacular "Europeanization of Europe". Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, as some of the new members are societies with a dreadful recent past of unsuccessful communism. Their economies were systematically ruined by the overwhelming influence of Stalinist Soviet Union and the population of those countries as a whole lack, if we can call it like that, a basic training course in democracy. Of course, some countries, like for example Slovenia, had more ideological and geographical contacts with Western Europe, and therefore have developed a stronger sense of what "capitalism" and "democracy" as abstract concepts mean. Thus, this Slovenian experience reflected itself to certain extent in the current socio-political situation in the country which is, along with Cyprus, the richest newcomer in EU with a GDP per head of 69% of EU average.But, Slovenian case is not a representative one, especially if we take into consideration Balkan countries, such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Albania and others, which are still not in the EU. This part of Europe was practically "ghettoized" by its Western counterpart, and in some academic contexts often referred to as the "bastard" of Europe. Wars, political instability and economic underdevelopment, are the factors accounted for world to view Balkans as almost non-European part of Europe (however paradoxical it seems). Europe, as perceived from the outside world, was the Europe of Bach's Germany, Balzac's France, Dante's Italy, and Shakespeare's England (or, if you prefer: Bayer's Germany, Renault's France, Pirelli's Italy, and BP's United Kingdom). Balkan Peninsula was visible only geographically, if even so. Most of the time it was an invisible entity living outside the symbolical field of Europe, remaining in its shadow away from the eyes of the world. Major news that were occasionally emitted from this invisible place were news of destruction and human tragedy.

The downsides of the new wave of EU extension are often very well hidden and impenetrable. It is often stated that EU does, and will reflect desires and socio-political attitudes of its people, but often that statement doesn't correspond to reality. And, especially not today after EU embraced its ten new members with an overwhelming celebration among the newcomers. Lobby groups of particular interest, such as the European Round Table of Industrialists which coordinates and leads the efforts of industrial giants such as British American Tobacco and Nestle, among others, in influencing the decision-making process in Brussels is actually often more powerful than any agglomeration of voters in EU member-states. But, this is not the only lobby group in Brussels which, by some estimation, hosts some 500 industry lobby groups employing about 10,000 professional lobbyists.

What the citizens of the new countries from Eastern and Central Europe have to ask themselves is what are their political powers going to be when compared with the powers of old members-states and corporations which are rooted in those states. A plausible option is that the "new" European countries such as Slovenia, Hungary, Baltic States and others, will have even less political powers in the economic and political arena of European Union. There will no be efficient tools or instruments which could be used effectively in fighting the overwhelming influence of the traditional EU giants. If we take into consideration Europe's "invisible bastard" (the Balkans), situation gets even worse in its role in the eventual new extension of EU. It will still remain economically and politically invisible, lost amidst the stronger countries of the rest of the Europe, but this time more visible for the outside world because it will have the full legitimacy to call itself Europe - a steep price to pay to rename oneself to a name one already has.

Of course, there are a lot of advantages of joining the EU, and a lot of disadvantages, but due to the lack of popular political debate among mainstream political options and the citizens of small and politically underdeveloped countries of Eastern and Central Europe, people will remain blinded with wealth of West that they want a share of, but are not aware that this wealth will be distributed rather differently than they expect. There is no public awareness among the common population about the downsides of European Union. If there is some kind of political critique, it comes from the conservative, right-wing option which often misses the crucial points and argues for some kind of isolationism which is silly and impossible in today's world. Thus, sober and logically consistent critique is usually restricted to small circles of people with insufficient resources to communicate their insights to the wider public. Therefore, it seems that in the ultimate and final expansion of EU everybody will be equal, "but some will be more equal than others", while people will suddenly be surprised and disappointed with something that they had to discuss and anticipate long before the consequences became obvious.