Further EU enlargement - your thoughts?

[Martinus]

So, I just read that few thousands of some fucking Croats held a rally in The Hague yesterday, protesting against jailing of their war criminal generals (which they consider "heroes"). Considering Croatia is on a fast track to become a EU member, I am wondering if it is ready - and if anyone else is. And is the EU ready to accept new members, seeing how we are on the brink of collapse ourselves (or at least the eurozone is).

What's your thoughts (especially the EU folk)?

[Razgovory]

Really you should be looking for a method of kicking states out.

[Grinning_Colossus]

Let them all in. Turkey, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan. 

[CountDeMoney]

For enlargement of the EU lasting longer than 4 hours, seek medical help.

[Zanza]

Croatia is ready and will join. It's too bad it took so long, they should have been in the 2004 or 2007 enlargement already. Anyway, it's good that they join now.

The rest of the West Balkans will have to sort out their various conflicts first and the EU should use the carrot of membership to help this along. But they should eventually join too. Hopefully during this decade.

Iceland should join if they want to. Switzerland and Norway are currently not considering membership, but they are of course welcome.

Turkey should be given a fair chance to join, however they have to implement the acquis communitaire like everybody else.

Not sure about the former Soviet states. They are probably too closely aligned with Russia politically and economically, so that EU membership makes little sense.

[Martinus]

How is Croatia "ready" but other Balkans need to sort their conflicts out, in light of Croats refusing to acknowledge their war crimes? Other than the fact that Croats have a history of nazi flirtations, which I guess would make them sympathetic to a German, that is.

[Zanza]

How is Croatia "ready" but other Balkans need to sort their conflicts out, in light of Croats refusing to acknowledge their war crimes?

It was a thousand protestors and it's not really surprising that some Croats consider Gotovina a hero for his military successes. However Croatia's government has cooperated on finding Gotovina and that's all that matters.

[The Brain]

We need to purge the failed states already in before we let more losers join. Greece WTF.

[Josquius]

The EU is a good thing and should include as many nations as possible, just a shame it stuck itself with the EU name so we can't expand beyond Europe.
The Eurozone now....there's a different issue. And making new members join it is a bit....yeah....

How is Croatia "ready" but other Balkans need to sort their conflicts out, in light of Croats refusing to acknowledge their war crimes? Other than the fact that Croats have a history of nazi flirtations, which I guess would make them sympathetic to a German, that is.

Croatia is quite a bit richer than the others and its dodgyness is a bit further in the past.

[Solmyr]

The EU is a good thing and should include as many nations as possible, just a shame it stuck itself with the EU name so we can't expand beyond Europe.

That didn't stop us in the 1800s.

[Warspite]

How is Croatia "ready" but other Balkans need to sort their conflicts out, in light of Croats refusing to acknowledge their war crimes? Other than the fact that Croats have a history of nazi flirtations, which I guess would make them sympathetic to a German, that is.

Sometimes, Marty, the act of subscribing to the Economist is not enough to actually learn about a region. Both the PM and President of Croatia have acknowledged Croatian war crimes, including on one occasion with the Serbian President in a joint commemoration. And Croats are just as easily related to a grandfather who was a partisan as opposed to an Ustasa.

What a lot of people object to is, shall we say, the flimsy verdict over General Gotovina. I'm not even a fan of his, or the right-wing Croats who go out and protest on this issue, but even I, having read the judgement, think it's a political verdict rather than actual justice.

[Slargos]

No! Purge Cyprus and Poland!

[Martinus]

Purge Slargos!

[Habsburg]

The EU is a good thing and should include as many nations as possible, just a shame it stuck itself with the EU name so we can't expand beyond Europe.

That didn't stop us in the 1800s.

[Siege]

We need a war to shake things up.