Europe, Meet Europe.(Spaniards' knowledge of new European Union members)(Column)

Twilight falls like a lavender shawl over the Gothic quarter of old Barcelona. Beyond a courtyard, where palms peek over medieval stone walls, I bump into Carlos. He's a cosmopolitan sort, who reads newspapers from El Pais to Der Spiegel and knows about everything, from Dante to urban design--the ideal person to put to my test.

We popped into a bar where hams hung overhead and barrels served as tables. Over glasses of bone-dry sherry I steered conversation toward the biggest to-do in Continental history--"enlargement" of the European Union, slated for May 1. The stitching together of Europe's two halves- -one well-developed and wealthy, the other rich in spirit but broke-- has been rightly nicknamed the "Big Bang." Never before have 25 countries and 455 million people voluntarily ditched long-nursed grudges and grievances to band together under one powerful economic- political-social umbrella that affects everything from tomatoes to taxes. Yet I was perplexed. Surveys I'd seen suggested that, for many Europeans, this historical uber-moment is in fact a big question mark. A 2002 Eurobarometer poll, for instance, showed that 60 percent of Spaniards couldn't name even one of the new EU entrants. Surely this could not be. After all, enlargement is only five months away!

"So, Carlos," I said to my friend. "You know those new countries joining the EU--can you name them?"

"Oh, sure," he replied nonchalantly. "Turkey, of course."

"Nope."

"Bulgaria."

"Nope."