Bruce Sterling points to a nice article in the Guardian about the latest round of enlargement of the European Union, and observes:
“It’s worth pointing out that nobody’s ever clamored to join an empire before. Yeah, that’s pretty weird behavior for an organization that’s supposed to be dull.“
I have been talking about this with some Italian, and Romanian friends, after the Italian press has been all over the story, with the only angle they could find, specifically that of the supposed danger from criminal gangs, and
unbridled flood of immigration. There is so much more to be told, so many stories, angles, and it is a pity that the Italian journalists can only see their chauvinistic cliches.
The Constitution of the European Union, the continued, if difficult, talks for the entry of Turkey into the club are going to dominate the next months and years in terms of the main story, but filling in the blanks of what being an EU member means to the new countries, but also to Hungary, Poland, and others that joined a few years ago, remains a rich, and fundamental narrative.