And what if not? "Nobody would be overly concerned if Poland did not
enter the EU together with the first group of new members."
Hungary echoes this argument. Almost two thirds of respondents in
surveys conducted by the EU in Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia and Lithuania
are undecided about EU membership or opposed to it altogether.
The situation in the Czech Republic is not much improved. Only Hungary
stalwartly supports the EU's eastern tilt.
Opinion polls periodically conducted by GfK Hungaria, a market research
group owned by GfK Germany, paint a more mixed picture. On the one
hand, even in countries with a devout following of EU accession, such
as Romania, support for integration has declined this year. Support in
Hungary and Poland, on the other hand, picked up.
Yet, the EU can't seem to get its act together. According to the Danish
paper, Berlingske Tidende, Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh
Rasmussen, rules out a "take it or leave it" ultimatum to the
candidates. There will be "real negotiations", he insisted. Not so,
says Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish president of the EU until Dec
31: "The room for maneuver in negotiations will be very limited ... We
have a certain framework, and we stick to it."
Yet, disenchantment should not be exaggerated.
Pages:
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103