Re: Ireland and Spain
Both those countries were much poorer before joining the EU. When they did, their people's living standards expanded much faster, proportionnally to the older EU members. Now, Spain has less of a deficit than either France or Germany, while the inhabitants buy the same cars as the french or the germans. With time, it's a win win situation. There are many consumers in those 10 new countries. And all those countries are democracies (otherwise, they wouldn't have joined the EU-that's why Turkey must still proof itself), not communist totalitarian countries.
Raoul