Self-destructive?
Public opinion across the Continent is growing more and more Eurosceptic. This is not just a result of Ankara’s bid to join the European Union (note that the majority of the people do not want Turkey in the bloc, yet political leaders appear more susceptible to external kinds of pressure than to popular will) – an awkward predicament indeed, as the governments have yet to give a clear and convincing answer as to why a non-European state (let aside concerns over humanist, democratic and economic criteria) should join a group of European states. On a political-bureaucratic level, concerns are being voiced over whether the union’s constant expansion (it already numbers 25 members) could, even in the long term, lead to a meaningful «political union,» supposed to be the ultimate goal. The more the EU expands, the stronger the pro-American bloc seems to grow to the expense of the Europeanist forces. Faced with crucial global issues, not only did the EU fail to hammer out a single policy but even when attempts were made to form a unified front against the unilateralism of the global superpower, they were undermined by states that almost defected to the other side of the Atlantic. The more the EU bloats, the harder it will be for it to reach common ground, to speak with a single voice, and to project itself as a commanding power in the global arena. US willingness to see the bloc expand over and over should have made us a lot more skeptical of the benefits of enlargement.
