Meet the New Europe; Same as the Old Europe

Czechs voted overwhelmingly this weekend to join the European Union, 77 percent to 23 percent. The referendum came on the heels of Poland's enthusiastic yes vote (75-25) the weekend before, and leaves just Latvia and Estonia among the 10 new EU countries to await public ratification. Bloomberg has a useful analysis of what this all might mean.

The Bohemian and Moravian EU-philia exceeded nearly every prediction. "The Czechs were alone," reported the New York Times' Peter Green, "in facing a determined 'maybe' campaign, led by their new president, Vaclav Klaus, a self-described 'Euroskeptic.'" Who convinced them otherwise? The media.

In fact, analysts said it was only a determined last-minute campaign by the country's independent news organizations that brought to the voting booths many voters who, the polls indicated, had planned to stay home.

As voting began on Friday, the country's leading daily newspaper, Mlada Fronta Dnes, ran the single word "Ano" ? Czech for yes ? across the top half of its front page.

You can read a translation of the "Ano" editorial here.