Before Turkey enters, the EU will hopefully have changed its Common Agricultural Policy so that it can deal more flexibly with newcomers. The arrangement for the 2004 entrants can otherwise be replicated here: they are being fased in very slowly, they now get funding at about 25% which will slowly climb to full funding in 2013. The EU will also need to reform its institutional architecture, so that we will have only double majority voting in the Council (voting by a majority of states representing a majority of the population).

First of all, it seems to me the CAP was just re-negotiated. 'Course, Tony, little more than a year later, wanted to re-negotiate that further, but that didn't get anywhere then, and it won't now. 'Course, what does the land of mad cows know about agriculture, one might ask.

Secondly, double majority voting was to have been put into effect with the Constitution, if I am not mistaken, but then, we know where the constitution went, and arguably it went there precisely because of hasty neo-liberal reforms in anticipation of equally hasty enlargement which were not supported by the people. (In France, the most effective opponent to the Oui campaign was a Dutchman and neo-liberal by the unfortunately name of Bolkenstein.)

I think all of this is exactly putting the cart before the proverbial horse. Europe is far too important than this. All this causes is a predictable backlash against further reform and further enlargement, in this case not only to Turkey, but also the rest of the non-EU Balkans.

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill