| Polish farmers: little solidarity from the French, who absorb 22% of Common Agricultural Policy funds |
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Enlargement of the European Union, now that it is imminent, is proving divisive. That does not dismay Michael Hart, senior emerging markets analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, as he surveys the central and eastern European (CEE) states jockeying for membership. "There is very little worth doing in life without a big row," he muses. Tensions are high between the existing members of the EU over which countries - potential rivals for subsidies from Brussels - should be invited to join. And on the home turf of the candidate states, the consensus in favour of membership is eroding, with public enthusiasm for the EU waning sharply.
So unsurprisingly bankers have started thinking aloud about the future of CEE countries if they do not win membership of Europe's rich club.