The cautionary tale of east Germany - smothered by western red tape and
lethargy - should forewarn every new member and aspiring candidate.
They need to join the European Union in the hope of helping to reform
it from the inside. They should not succumb to the allure of German
largesse, nor acquire the French, Spanish, Greek and Portuguese
addiction to it. They cannot afford to.
Europe's Four Speeds
By: Dr. Sam Vaknin
Also published by United Press International (UPI)
Pomp and circumstance often disguise a sore lack of substance. The
three days summit of the Central European Initiative is no exception.
Held in Macedonia's drab capital, Skopje, the delegates including the
odd chief of state, discussed their economies in what was
presumptuously dubbed by them the "small Davos", after the larger and
far more important annual get together in Switzerland.
Yet the whole exercise rests on a series of politically correct
confabulations. To start with, Macedonia, the host, as well as Albania,
Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and other east European backwaters hardly
qualify for the title "central European". Mitteleuropa is not merely a
geographical designation which excludes all but two or three of the
participants. It is also a historical, cultural, and social entity
which comprises the territories of the erstwhile German and,
especially, Austro-Hungarian (Habsburg) empires.
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