| Twenty years ago, on a sunny Saturday on 1 May 2004, three former Soviet Republics, three former Soviet satellite countries (one of them having split in two), one former Yugoslav republic, and two former British colonies joined the EU. It was called the ‘Big Bang enlargement’, and indeed, in the history of what is today the EU, its fifth wave (of which Bulgaria and Romania, which joined on 1 January 2007, are officially part) is by far the biggest and, therefore, historic. At that time, the diplomats from Eastern Europe knew relatively little about the European Communities to which they were accredited, while their European counterparts had limited knowledge and understanding of our countries. On our side, we had doubts as to the readiness of the Communities to enlarge. I must confess that I also doubted my country’s willingness to become part of mainstream Europe. At the time, we were preparing the accession application, and the prime minister was Jean Videnov, a staunch communist of the type that used to rule Bulgaria when it was a satellite of the USSR. Did Videnov want Bulgaria to become part of the West? I had my doubts… But the miracle happened: He signed the application, and less than 10 years later, the fifth enlargement became a fact. Today, we know that the fifth enlargement has been a big success overall. But I can’t help thinking about what it would have been like if EU enlargement hadn’t happened. | 