What If They Say No?

Thought European Union enlargement was a done deal? Not yet. Next year governments in the candidate countries slated to join in 2004 hold national referendums that could — in theory, at least — scuttle the project. Czechs are worried that they won't be able to cook their goulash in the traditional way (they will); Poles fear that farmers won't be able to compete against heavily subsidized agricultural products from Western Europe (they won't).

Opposition increases with proximity to the former Soviet Union. More than 40% of Estonians, for example, are against joining. Worried E.U. officials hope that a landslide win on April 12 in Hungary, where 93% of voters want to join as soon as possible, will build support elsewhere.

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