The Death (and Birth) of Europe.(European Union membership)

It will be the end of Europe," Valery Giscard D'Estaing famously declared, referring to Turkey's bid to join the European Union. He's right, though not in the way he intended.

His Europe is indeed nearing its end. That's not merely because it's just added 10 very diverse new members--or that it might eventually admit Muslim Turkey, Giscard's bete noire, to its Christian club. No, the old Europe is dying because its idea of itself, its culture and what it stands for has changed.

The presidents and prime ministers gathered in Copenhagen last week were present at the creation, celebrating a transformative Big Bang. Their accomplishment is nothing less than stunning: a New Europe from the western isles of Ireland to the eastern reaches of Transylvania, spanning 370 million people and an economy of more than $9 trillion, rivaling the United States. Yet this moment of glory also marks the end of Europe as we know it. For what is creation, after all, but the destruction of much of what came before?

Consider how Europe has long defined itself as The Un-American, stubbornly independent from the world hegemon. If anything, that divide has grown since the end of the cold war. Now comes the entry into the Union of a half dozen new members from Central and Eastern Europe. In contrast to most of their neighbors to the West, they are almost unreservedly pro-American. As of May 2004, when the new members formally take their seats, Britain will no longer be isolated in its ties to Washington. Instead, it will be at the center of the single largest voting bloc in Europe.

The implications, just dawning on European leaders, are manifold, touching everything from foreign policy to economics. Henceforth the United States will almost certainly find it easier to gain European support for initiatives that might once have foundered in the face of resistance from such traditional allies as France or Germany. Early efforts to expand NATO or intervene in Bosnia come to mind, as does Iraq more recently. These new members also care little about the icons of old Europe; their gods more closely resemble freedom and market- driven capitalism than Goethe or Schiller--let alone the socialist welfare model of France or ...