Welcome to the club

It doesn't happen every day that the European Union greets a new member, so before it's too late and the 1st July is out, I extend a warm embrace towards Croatia - a lovely country and the only one in the world whose capital's name begins with 'Z'.  The EU's geographical position in the Balkans now resembles that of Austria-Hungary in 1908, prior to the latter's annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina that year (incidentally, going well beyond a recreation of Charlemagne's Europe as envisaged by some in Germany and France).  The dynamic a century on though is that Serbia is being lined up to join after handing over it war criminals to The Hague.  I say the more that join, the merrier.