Looking to Europe

摘要

When Europe's leaders agreed last De-Wcember that negotiations for Tur-key's entry into the European Union could begin in October this year, they brought cheer to some parts of Europe and fear to others. Marek Belka, Poland's prime minister, said it was "a fantastic economic opportunity" for his country, which joined the EU only in May 2004. Others were much less enthusiastic. Valery Gis-card d'Estaing, a former French president, said he objected to Turkish membership because Turkey has "a different culture, a different approach, a different way of life". Indeed it has. But so has France, and so has every other member of the European Union. The EU was never designed to impose rigid uniformity. The memoirs of Jean Monnet, one of the EU'S founding fathers, quotes him on the dust-jacket: "Nous ne coalisons pas des e'tats; nous untssons des hommes." (We are not combining nations; we are bringing together people.) The draft EU constitution, drawn up by a convention chaired by none other than Mr Giscard d'Estaing, recalls the EU'S motto: "Unity in diversity".