Manifest EuroDestiny

Europe is set to continue its eastward expansion, approving the addition of Romania and Bulgaria as early as 2007. This probably will not be met, but if it is, the weight of the weak, post-communist economies and the number of people willing to emigrate to the West for work could be a serious crisis. I don't know how much the EU can absorb into the already soft economies of France and Germany, and the center and right parties in Europes capitals are no doubt raising the same questions.

Of course, if their economies liberalized a bit, the influx of resources and cheap, well-educated labor could cause a huge economic boom, just as the influx of Eastern Europeans to the U.S. helped fuel our 1870 to 1929 boom. Either way, however, it'll be socially disruptive and raise serious questions about identity and society for a lot of Europeans.