re: Slovenia and EU:
Yes, time will tell, if this experiment works.
But they have, now, a 50+ year track record, to judge them by. The European Coal and Steel Community was the genesis of what has evolved into the EU. It was founded in 1951, and included 3 small nations (Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands). If the trade-off had been a bad deal for those 3 nations, then today nations like Slovenia, Estonia and Malta wouldn't be joining.
One huge factor, in the success of the EU, is that the nation at its center, with the largest population and economy, was smashed flat and humbled, right before. The defeat of Germany, in WW2, was a necessary pre-condition for the founding and success of the EU.
The 10 new nations joining in 2004 are all small and medium-sized, and so are all the likely candidates beyond that, for the next 20 years. All of them will resist any domination of the EU by Germany (or France). |
