Ireland can take a particular interest in yesterday's first anniversary of the European Union's enlargement from 15 to 25 member-states, since the inauguration ceremony was held in Dublin during our EU presidency last May Day.
That was an auspicious occasion, initiating what has been a successful year for the new states as they adapted economically, politically and culturally to membership. Irish people have seen the effects through the strong migration of people from there to work here, in the growing trade and investment in central and eastern Europe involving Irish and other EU firms and in political debates involving the new states.
This record has confounded the doom-sayers who argued such an extensive enlargement would be too ambitious for the EU to handle. There has been no great surge of migration, other than to member-states like Ireland looking for workers and able to absorb them. The balance of trade and investment has been with the new members, whose economic growth is double that of the older members. Transfers from agricultural and structural funds have boosted incomes, especially for farmers, giving an important fillip to their economies. Their administrative and political adaptation to Brussels has gone relatively smoothly, with the greatest challenge in the linguistic and translation areas. Although cumbersome, such recognition of cultural identity is a crucial issue for their political elites and electorates alike.
In his speech last week marking the anniversary, Commission president José Manuel Barroso said this record of achievement belies the talk of old and new Europe that was so widespread last year before the new states formally joined the EU, stimulated by divisions over the war in Iraq. In fact the new members have adapted well to both the diversity and increasing convergence of its foreign policy positions. They have not been more markedly pro-American than other members. They do have different interests than older member-states because they are less developed than most of them. This makes them more willing to experiment with new models of economic and social development. Such dynamism is welcome and deserves support in the new budgetary round now under negotiation. It will be up to the EU as a whole to bargain over how far such models are to be generalised and how far constrained within agreed political norms.
Some of these are spelled out in the EU's constitutional treaty, which lays down general values affecting its policies. In the current French debate on its merits, last year's EU enlargement is too often and wrongly blamed for France's economic malaise and loss of political influence. That is shortsighted and likely to rebound on France's own position in Europe should its voters reject the treaty on May 29th. The radical broadening of the EU's membership towards central and eastern Europe has given it a much greater political purchase in world affairs, greater security and a valuable enhancement of relations with its continental neighbours - not least with Russia.