Wishful Thinking

Also in today’s Washington Post, David Ignatius thinks that the EU’s new Eastern members will save it from itself:

“Look East” should be the motto of this united Europe. For the 10 new members, far from being a burden, can bring a needed energy and dynamism to the union. They can blow apart the bureaucratism and welfare-state culture that still hobble much of Europe, if the core 15 will let free markets function the way they should.

When it comes to free trade, Paris thinks Washington is a sucker. When it comes to free political expression, Berlin (how odd, even now, not to say “Bonn”) compares Bush to Hitler. What makes Ignatius believe that the Franco-Prussian (er, Franco-German) cabal that runs the EU will give more weight to Warsaw or Prague or Budapest’s sensibilities than they do ours?

Slovakia won’t liberate the EU any more than Hong Kong will liberate China.