The enlargement agreed at Nice will even allow future EU members in the east to latch on to banana number two. Some areas beyond the bananas are doing fine.
Berlin is Europe's biggest building site.
The Celtic tiger is booming, as is Portugal. Work dwindles, and the urban trek seems unstoppable. Fanned by budget cuts and the despair born of frustration, the confrontation between capitals and campesinos is intensifying. Britain and France remain the most centralised of the larger EU members. Germany, a federal country, is more fortunate, as is Italy, thriving with its independent-minded regions, each tuned into a vibrant provincial capital and indifferent to Rome.