In decline?

And next year the gathering will be even bigger, with Romania and Bulgaria joining the club in January and others knocking on the door.

But according to a leading Italian academic, they'll be joining a European Union in economic and political decline - undermined, he says, by a comfortable life of long holidays and short working hours, and over-generous welfarism.

That's the message from Professor Alberto Alesina, who teaches at Harvard University. He's the co-author of new book called The Future of Europe - Reform of Decline and he'll be explaining his thinking in London on Tuesday, at a meeting organised by two think tanks, Open Europe and Policy Exchange.

The Professor's views are clearly of interest to the Treasury, too, because he's also due to meet Gordon Brown on his visit to London.

We asked Professor Alesina why decline was inevitable.