It is an amazing step forward when one looks at the list of countries, such as the Czech Republic, Poland and Latvia which are about to join the EU, and sees from where they have come. Thirty years ago, these countries behind the Iron Curtain seemed far away. It was also 30 years ago this week that a family relative of mine died in Poland. Although Poland is not as far away as the moon, I recall at the time that it seemed he had died on another planet. I recall the administrative difficulties, chaos and concern it caused his family and, as a child of seven years of age, it left a mark on me. I wondered where Poland was because it seemed such a cold, distant place – a godless country beyond a wall of steel. The more we got to know about Poland and its role in the old Europe, the more I realised how wrong my initial view had been. That was the sort of Europe that most of us grew up to know in a wrong and fearful fashion. As a result of EU enlargement that will not be the case.