Countries queuing up to join is a symbol of our success
Jerzy Buzek, New EP president on EU enlargement
I found this quote while skimming various EU parliament pages for something else entirely, and couldn't help but being slightly offended by the simplicity of the statement. Maybe this is due to the opinion I formed during the seemingly endless study of international organisations at university; it's all about inclusion vs exclusion. So maybe a rephrasing would be in order, Mr President?
Countries queuing up to join is a symbol of our successful policy of exclusion
...for example?
Build a fortress and put nice things within it, and people are sure to be queuing up to get inside, whether for wealth (opportunity to trade), safety or employment. This has surely been true since the first wall was built. Fine, I'm all for parliamentaries being positive about the work they are (supposed to be) doing, but a certain degree of organisational self-knowledge would probably serve the tax-payers better.
There is, of course, the second possibility of the President being entirely cynical and actually referring to barring access for certain Europeans as a success.
Nah.
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