A cautious welcome

The news bulletins over the Christmas holiday were dominated by the vengeful execution of the deposed leader of a ruinous country. The leader, of course, was Nicolae Ceaucescu, the country Romania and the year 1989. That Romania, together with Bulgaria, has just made the then unthinkable step of joining the European Union — the conditions of membership of which have required it to prove it is a modern democratic nation — ought to be a matter for celebration in its own right. Moreover, it should provide some optimism as to how far Iraq — though hardly likely ever to become a member of the EU — might have travelled as post-totalitarian democracy in 17 or 18 years’ time.

The accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the EU on 1 January has, however, not been received positively. The presiding emotion in this country has been one of anxiety: anxiety that migrant workers from the two new member countries will take the jobs of British workers, claim benefits paid for by British taxpayers and add to the desperate shortage of affordable accommodation in London and the south-east.