EU must close economic gap between new states and existing ones

EU: The most recent survey of opinion in the new member-states carried out on behalf of the EU Commission puts to bed the old…

EU: The most recent survey of opinion in the new member-states carried out on behalf of the EU Commission puts to bed the old dictum that money doesn't buy you happiness.EU membership as a passport to future prosperity, writes Adrian Langan

The 10 states that will join the EU on May 1st (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Malta and the Greek southern part of Cyprus) are considerably less economically developed than the 15 existing members - as will be apparent to readers of the member-states' background data on the poster map of the expanded EU in today's special European maps supplement.

Effectively, the citizens of the 10 new members-states have an income per head of some 40 per cent compared to the existing members.

One outcome of this appears to be that our new fellow European citizens are not as satisfied with their lives as we are - about 60 per cent of citizens in the new members say that they are satisfied, compared to 79 per cent in the existing EU 15 states.

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Much of this is connected to the economic situation in the new member-states, and there is considerable variety between them.

The unsurprising reality is that in wealthier countries like Slovenia and Cyprus people are happier, with 85 per cent of Slovenes expressing satisfaction with their lives.

The big challenge for the EU will be closing the gap between the new members and the existing ones.

The tricky bit is to ensure that the gap is not narrowed by the existing members declining negatively in economic terms - an increasingly likely reality in Germany and France.

The new member-states have always seen their membership of the union as the critical element in their economic transformation.

There is a widespread belief that the EU will play a part in improving the economic standing of the new states.

Candidate states (including the three awaiting a date for entry, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania) show 54 per cent of people declaring that the EU will play a positive role in their economic situation.

That said, the mood across the new member-states in economic terms is pessimistic.

Most people in the new members feel that their economic and employment situation will worsen, e.g. 65 per cent of Slovaks and 52 per cent of Poles expect things to get worse not better this year.

Contrasting what people expect to get from the EU and the reality of their economic outlook for this year would appear to suggest that while many feel EU membership will be economically beneficial, they are aware that there will be no easy fixes, and that the EU is not an immediate solution to deep-seated economic problems.

The new member-states have been told in no uncertain terms that the EU is not going to do an "Ireland" for them, and that the monies they receive and the economic benefits that accrue to them will be slowly gained.

The new member-states will not be using the euro from May 1st. They are all obliged to take on the euro, but only when they meet certain economic criteria.

The euro is popular across the 10 new states. Some 58 per cent of the new members-states' citizens support it - with support being as high as 81 per cent in Slovenia, though Malta and Estonia are most against it - only 42 per cent in Estonia being in favour.

The interesting thing about support for the euro in the 10 new states is that it is concentrated among groups with higher-level education and those who work at managerial level or over.

The EU's perennial problem of enjoying popularity only among those who have been to college and have a good job is again in evidence in the new member-states.

Adrian Langan is the executive director of Bill O'Herlihy Communications, and a long-time pro-EU activist. Tomorrow: foreign and security policy.