8
The fourth factor dividing Germany from many others on the expansion issue is
simple geography. Germany borders on Poland and the Czech Republic. Of the other 14
current EU states, only Italy and Austria touch expansion states. The long German
eastern border has driven Germany to support rapid EU expansion, for two reasons.
First, Germany fears the many negative consequences that could come from having poor,
politically unstable neighbors. This could include uncontrolled migration (not just of
Poles and Czechs but of Third World migrants taking advantage of poorly guarded
borders), as well as all kinds of smuggling and cross-border crime. Germany could face a
nightmare scenario of threats to its security, as well as the heavy economic burden of
trying to stabilize its eastern neighbors by itself. On the more positive side, if the
accession states join the EU and prosper, simple geography dictates that Germany will
reap the largest benefits. Standing at the center of an expanded EU, not at the periphery
of the ‘old’ EU, is thus very much in Germany’s interests. Meanwhile, a state such as
Ireland or Portugal, distant from the Oder-Neisse line, would see both the benefits of
enlargement and the threat of delaying it as much less important. For example, even with
relatively open internal EU borders, would throngs of Eastern migrants or drug dealers
pose as much of a problem in Dublin as in Berlin? Most Irish politicians would probably
have their doubts.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Germany has unique cultural and historical
links to the accession states, which further deepens its interest in pushing for rapid
expansion. From the time of the Hanseatic League, Germans have led Europe in trading
members made my vision of a looser, more open Community seem more timely rather than backward. It
also became clear that the courageous reforming leaders in eastern Europe looked to Britain—and to me
because of my anti-socialist credentials—as a friend who genuinely wanted to help them, rather then
exclude them from markets (like the French) or seek economic domination (like the Germans).”
Convention