THE "BIG BANG" IN EUROPE

Another ten countries will be able to join the European Union in the next two years. This expansion is entitled as "Big Bang" and can not be compared with any other. Slovakia will also be a part of it, which is important for us. Politically and economically, we will be ready to become a member of the EU in the year 2004. But do the present members of the union agree with it?

It'll not be a piece of cake to finance the expansion of the EU, so the European Commission has to convince the sceptic members to cooperate. Why sceptic? Ten countries are supposed to join the EU. That's something about 76 million inhabitants. The GDP of the union would be only 5 percent higher as now, which is not a big contribution for the EU. But let's try to take a look at this fact from an other side. As a matter of fact, the growth potential of the candidate countries is higher than the growth potential of the present members. And also the costs needed to expand the EU can be compared to the price of the non-expansion, which is even higher. However, it's true that somehow, the governments of the EU-member countries forgot to make an expansion-campaign in their area. So, the major part of the EU-population still thinks, that we haven't changed a lot since the communistic times. They're afraid, that the workers from the eastern Europe will overflow the market with non-quality product and that the organized crime will spread all over the EU area. They don't realize, that the candidates had to graduate through the economical, social and judicial revolution. By entering the union, they'll be able to fulfill the european norms even better than some of today's member countries do. So one of the very main objectives in the next year will be to inform the population about the expansion. Although some of the candidate countries also became sceptic, Slovakia stays optimistic. Well, let's try not to take the situation so easy, as it looks like. When we finally reach the membership in the EU, we'll still have to be ready to fulfill the tasks and instructions the union gives us. The present member countries don't have to be so afraid of our future membership, because the EU is currently working on another safety provisions. The European Commission has invented an independent mechanism, which will help the present member countries to defend themselves from the negative influences caused by the new members.