Stand by for lift off!
Have a look at the GDP per head of these official candidates for EU membership:
Croatia, $14,142
Turkey, $10,363
FYR Macedonia, $5,162
Montenegro $7,317
Only Iceland among the candidates has a GDP higher than the EU average of $35,185 and the UK figure of $38,811.
Not enough for you? These are the most likely contenders among nations clammering to get onto the waiting list:
Albania $4,020
Bosnia & Herzegovina $4,654
Serbia $5,725
Kosovo $3,534
So who do you think are going to be the prime beneficiaries of EU largesse (or more properly, the nations in the EU that make net contribution) following these countries joining the bloc? No wonder they are hammering at the door.
In ten years time when the nation is eagerly awaiting the influx of Macedonians and Montenegans the Prime Minister of the day will be eagerly explaining the measures he or she will be taking to prevent them plundering our resources. And the EU will be warning that to do so will have dire consequences. And the electorate will still be told that they will enrich our nation and that we cannot do without them as nobody else will pick the cabbages. And we'll be looking forward to the next lot from another place full of people who don't have a pot to urinate in.
What a bloody farce!