II. Reading

1.Read the article through and try to grasp the main idea without using a dictionary: a matter of priorities.

The Economist, May 26th, 2001, p.12-13.

If it comes to a choice, the EU should put expansion before spending reform.

The leaders of the European Union like nothing better than giving lofty speeches about "solidarity", "unity" and the "historic obligation" to admit new members from the east. But lock the same leaders in a room together and the high-falutin talk quickly gives way to something rather more basic: a raw struggle for power and Money, especially money.

That is now on full display. The commitment to admit the ex-communist countries to the east is being qualified by a series of increasingly blatant attempts to rig the rules against the newcomers. If this new round of haggling gets out of hand, the EU's next expansion, first promised in 1990, could be indefinitely delayed, or the applicants could be presented with a deal so un-attractive that some will reject it. Opinion polls in Estonia, one of the front-runners for early membership, already show a majority of the voters opposed to joining the EU.

The root of the problem is easily stated. The applicants are poor, and they are many. Expanding the EU to 27 members by admitting all who want to join, except Turkey, would increase the Union's population by almost 30%, but its GDP by just 5%. This matters because the EU transfers money from one country to another. Its overall budget amounts to over 1% of its members' combined GDP - and about 80% of this total is accounted for by regional aid and by the common agricultural policy (CAP), which are respectively intended to subsidise poor people and farmers. As luck would have it; Central and Eastern Europe is full of poor people and farmers.

It was always plain that enlargement would involve some painful political decisions. Three in particular, raised by Germany, Spain and France, are proving awkward.

The German problem is a fear that, given the huge income disparities between Germany und the countries to the east, their membership of the EU will bring an uncontrollable influx of job-seekers. So Germany has extracted from the European Commission a seven-year restriction on the free movement of labour. Now that Germany has a concession, France and Spain are piling in. Spain is the largest beneficiary of the programmes that give help to the EU's poorest regions, and the Spanish know that, once the easterners join the Union, most of their regions will no longer qualify for aid under the EU's rules. So they want the rules rewritten, to ensure that the subsidies keep flowing. They are getting increasing support from Italy, Portugal and Greece.

France has a similar concern to the Spanish one. It is by far the biggest recipient of EU agricultural subsidies. But if Poland joins the Union, it will bring with it regiments of farmers, all wanting an equal share. That will mean less for France, or a big increase in the EU budget. The preferred French solution is clear: find an excuse to deny the applicants full access to the farm programme.