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In E.U. Debate, a Clash of Old and New
Bulgaria, the site of a shop that makes E.U. flags, and Romania have been promised membership but must address key problems or face a year's delay.
(By Petar Petrov -- Associated Press)
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In older E.U. nations -- including France, the Netherlands and Belgium -- rising racial tensions, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have accompanied an increase in immigrant and Muslim populations.
Opposition to European expansion -- commonly called enlargement fatigue -- is driven as much by concern over economics and jobs as fear of losing national identities, according to many analysts.
In France and other countries that were founders of the E.U., many people feel that the bloc is "getting out of control -- out of their control," said Michael Emerson, senior research fellow at the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies.
A recent poll taken for the union showed that the countries most opposed to expansion, primarily the older members, also were the most fearful of globalization. Newer member states, in contrast, viewed expansion as a greater opportunity for their countries and Europe as a whole to compete in the global market.
The difference in attitudes may be explained by E.U. statistics showing that between 1997 and 2005, the new members of the union had economic growth averaging 3.75 percent a year, while the older 15 members sustained growth of 2.2 percent.
In its Europe Day assessment of itself, the European Commission came together in principle, stating that "enlargement has acted as a face of modernization in the E.U., a timely force given the sudden emergence on the world scene of China and India."
Samir Ammad, a 29-year-old Paris bartender whose father was born in Algeria, said he sees little of that modernization trickling down to average citizens like himself. "I'm afraid the enlargement is more positive to big corporations and business owners who get cheaper labor, than to regular people like us," Ammad said.
Researcher Corinne Gavard in Paris contributed to this report.
