BERLIN, April 29 (Xinhuanet) -- As eight East European countries as well as Malta and Cyprus formally join the European Union (EU) on May 1, Germany is certainly a big beneficiary from the current round of EU enlargement.

    Germany has been a strong advocate of EU expansion towards eastern Europe. Soon after the country's reunification, German officials raised the possibility of East European countries joining the EU "at a later date."

    Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl once said: "The German-Polish border should not be the eastern boundary of NATO and the EU in the long run" and "this conviction is an elementary component of the German policy."

    Germany's support for the EU's eastward enlargement is apparently in line with its security, economic and political interests.

    "An EU restricted to western Europe would forever have to deal with a divided system in Europe: in western Europe integration, ineastern Europe the old system of balance of power with the permanent danger of nationalist ideologies and confrontations," German Foreign Minister Joschka Fisher said.

    "In the long term this would make Europe a continent of uncertainty, and in the medium term these traditional lines of conflict would shift from eastern Europe into the EU again. If that happened, Germany in particular would be the big loser," he added.

    But German politicians can now breathe easier as East European countries' accession to the EU will certainly enhance Germany's security by surrounding it with countries of identical economic and political systems and committed to common development.

    Economically, Germany is and will be reaping huge benefits from the EU enlargement. Over the past decade, the country has already been the largest trading partner in the East European region, accounting for 45 percent of the trade volume between the EU and its 10 new members.

    According to the Cologne-based German Economic Institute, the share of exports to East European countries in Germany's total wasup from 4.8 percent in 1994 to 9.2 percent last year, almost equalto those to the United States (9.3 percent).

    Germany's direct investment in the EU candidate countries grew by 430 percent to 30 billion euros (35.7 billion US dollars) between 1995 and 2001, with half of the capital going to the processing sectors such as automobile and chemical industries.

    The Cologne institute estimates that Germany's gross domestic product will grow by an extra 0.5 percentage point in 2005 and 2006 due to stronger exports to the new EU members and further improved productivity resulting from investment in the region.

    Germany seems also to be strengthened politically by the EU expansion as some commentators talk openly of Berlin becoming the "center of Europe" because East European countries are more likely to be allies of their rich western neighbor and major economic sponsor.

    However, the enlargement is no free lunch for Germans. The EU Commission has estimated that the enlarged union of 25 states will cost 220 billion euros (261.8 billion dollars) more up to the year 2013 than the current 15-member union.

    Of the new expenditures, Germany's share is 44 billion euros (52.36 billion dollars) or 6 billion euros (7.14 billion dollars) every year.

    Besides, many Germans are worried that an expanded internal market and opening up of borders following the EU enlargement will lead to higher unemployment and crime rates in Germany.

    According to an opinion poll published Sunday by the Forsa Institute, three of four surveyed expressed fear of losing jobs tothose in the EU candidate countries.

    But the same opinion poll also found that 59 percent of Germans and 69 percent of those between 18 and 29 years old regarded the EU enlargement as positive.

    The poll is just one of the indications that for Germany, the pluses far outweigh the minuses in the EU eastward expansion. Enditem